28 Nailed
by ARtheBard
Summary: The team travels back to New Orleans to track an unsub using tools as weapons. But as they close in can they nail the killer before getting nailed themselves? Oh, and...Rocky's sex is revealed!
1. Chapter 1

"Ma'am, is there someone here that can help me? I need a ball peen hammer and I'm not sure what one looks like."

Chloe smiles at the man. His business suit and soft hands speak of someone who is trying to be a handyman to impress his wife or girlfriend. She would be surprised if he knew what a claw foot hammer looked like.

"I can help you, sir," she says kindly. "The hammers are—"

"Uh, look," he interrupts, "I'm kind of in a hurry so if you could get a guy for me I'd appreciate it, sweetie," he finishes condescendingly.

Chloe tightens her jaw. "Aisle 9. Third 4ft section on the right. The one with the ball on the end instead of a claw."

She turns and stalks away from him. He tries to call her back but she ignores him. He finally flags down a stock boy.

"Do you have any idea what a ball peen hammer is? I really need one and she's not helping me," he gripes, gesturing towards Chloe.

"Sure, sir. Right this way."

The stocker leads the man to…Aisle 9…third 4ft section on the right…and hands him the one with the ball on the end instead of a claw. The man blushes.

"Uh. Great. Thanks."

He takes the hammer and heads to the checkout. Chloe just glares at him. "Are you a rewards club member?"

"No."

"Gets you a 10% discount and special offers by mail," she explains as if bored. Inside she is praying he joins.

And he is not only a weekend handyman but also a cheapskate. He eagerly fills out the information. She hands him his purchase.

"Have fun, sir."

He nods and heads out. Chloe takes the form he had filled out and slips it into her pocket. He won't be needing any special offers. Heck…he won't be needing that hammer if he doesn't use it tonight.

Chloe heads over to Aisle 9. She takes a hammer off the shelf and heads to the employee break room. She slips it into her backpack. If all goes well, she can use the one he purchased but if not she wanted to be prepared.

* * *

The street is quiet at 3:30 a.m. By the light of the small, finger-ring flashlight Chloe picks both locks on the door. Two great aspects of working at a hardware store are access to plenty of weapons and access to plenty of locks to practice picking. In less than 2 minutes she is in the house.

She slowly strolls through the first floor of the house. Light filtering in the windows from outside lights her way. She even makes her way down to the basement. There she finds the hammer. Carrying it with her she now makes her way up to the second level of the house. She had noticed a lack of family pictures in the house. That should mean he is alone. But if not, she would deal with the girlfriend or boyfriend, too.

In the second room she finds her target sleeping alone. She walks to the end of the bed and stares down at him.

_"Arrogant, chauvinist asshole. Why the hell didn't you just accept that I knew what you were asking for and where it would be?" _She grins evilly._ "Hell…bet you didn't think a woman could kill you, either? You'd be wrong again."_

She moves to his side. He sleeps blissfully unaware. She tests the weight of the hammer. It feels good. Very good. She raises it in the air.

_"Do I wake him or not?"_

She slams the hammer down onto his head.

_"Not."_

In five minutes she is making her way out of the house. Her black clothes hide the blood. But nothing can hide the satisfied grin on her face. She is lucky the only witness to her glee is the neighbors cat…and the cat would be saying nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily and JJ stare at the screen, the sound of Rocky's heartbeat the soundtrack to the activity they see. JJ kisses Emily's temple.

"Yep…definitely the next Abby Wambach. Look at that form!"

"How do you know Rocky isn't the next Landon Donovan?" Emily counters.

"Do you see a winkie there, Em?" She hugs Emily closer. "Baby, it's a girl."

Emily stares at the screen a moment, then turns to Dr. Kendle Manton. "Is…is that…that my _daughter_?"

Kendle smiles. "Are you sure you two want to confirm one or the other? You'd been pretty adamant about not knowing."

Emily looks up into JJ's eyes. JJ strokes a hand down her wife's cheek. "It's up to you, sweetheart."

Emily turns back to the doctor. "Is it a girl?"

Kendle smiles. "Invest in lots of pink, Mrs. and Mrs. Prentiss."

Emily bursts into tears. She clenches JJ's hands. "It's a girl, Jen. Rocky is a girl."

JJ nods, her own tears streaming down. "I know, Em. We have our daughter."

Kendle just smiles as the women continue to stare at the kicking little girl on the screen.

"God, she's perfect. So beautiful and perfect," Emily whispers. She looks at Kendle. "She is perfect, right? I mean, she's okay health-wise?"

Kendle nods. "All her tests and this ultrasound show she is healthy and progressing in size perfectly. However, her mother is another story."

Emily sighs. "My blood pressure, right?"

Kendle chuckles. "Oh, yeah. Tell you what, get situated and come down to my office. I'll go over the blood pressure chart you've been keeping for me and we can discuss what needs to happen the next few weeks."

Emily nods. "Okay. Whatever you need me to do I will do. Swear."

Ten minutes later they sit in front of Kendle's desk as she makes a few notes on Emily's b.p. chart. She looks up in confusion.

"There was one day two weeks ago where you checked your b.p. in the morning but didn't check it again until the next day."

Emily looks at the date in question. "Ah, right. I was in jail."

"Ah, I see. You were in—" she stutters to a stop and looks up sharply. "Did you say you were in jail? Seriously?"

Emily chuckles. "Seriously. Contempt charge during a case. Was just in there overnight. Mostly hurt my back and neck because I refused to put my head on the pillow in the cell. Slept up against the wall. But EMT's were sent in to check me just to be safe. I was fine. Really."

Kendle stares at the woman a moment…then bursts out laughing at the matter-of-fact explanation. "Your kids will never lack for things to write about when they write the 'what my parents do' essays in school."

JJ grins. "Maybe someday we will be boring."

"You can only hope," Kendle jokes. "Well, the pattern I am seeing here is you are okay if you are working on case files and know where Jennifer is. But when she is out of your sight on a case, you tend to get your pressure elevated. And, trust me, that is very common for women with a spouse in law enforcement. I can't tell you how to stop worrying about your wife. I'm sure Jennifer had the same issues when she was pregnant with Henry."

"Yeah, I did. Especially after New York," JJ admits.

"What I can tell you is limit your salt intake, eat nutritious meals, get plenty of exercise, and, most of all, get plenty of rest. If you need me to I can write up a reduction in duties order for your boss."

Emily frowns. "What kind of reduction? Can I not travel with the team any more?"

Kendle sits back in her chair. Part of her wants to order Emily to stay in the office. But another part admits that staying behind will only increase her worry about her wife and, with it, increase her blood pressure.

"Emily, you might well be the most difficult patient I have ever dealt with. Ever."

Emily grins. "Not the first time I've been called difficult."

Kendle chuckles. "I imagine not."

"Bet it won't be the last time, either," JJ kids.

Kendle laughs then nods. "Won't take that bet. So, I'm writing the reduction order. Yes, you can travel with the team BUT you will continue to monitor your b.p. If it spikes too high you will report to a local E.R. to be observed until it calms down. For moderate spikes, you will return to the hotel room to rest until it calms down. And as always, I'm on call for you 24/7. No question is too silly to call about. Your body has seen more stress this pregnancy than most women see in multiple pregnancies. Let's work together to bring Rocky into this world happy and healthy."

Emily nods. "Yes, Doc. Anything you say."

"Good. Do you two have any questions for me?"

JJ and Emily exchange a look.

"I don't think so, Doc," JJ answers. "Thank you so much for everything."

"No problem. Now, go catch a bad guy and make it a better world to bring Rocky into."

Emily nods and smiles. "Will do."

The two women walk hand-in-hand out to the Lexus. JJ climbs into the driver's seat but doesn't turn it on. She stares out the window, a smile on her face. Emily takes one of her hands.

"Penny for your thoughts."

JJ chuckles. "Pen offers me nickels."

Emily laughs. "Then I'll make it a quarter."

JJ lifts Emily's hand and kisses it. "I swear, all I wanted was a healthy baby. That was the most important thing. But…but a daughter, Em. A little sister for Henry. God, I…I feel…it just seems so…"

Emily squeezes her wife's hands. "I know, baby. I know." She pulls JJ to her and gives her a deep, passionate kiss. "I love you so much, Jennifer. Thank you for being my wife."

"I love you, too, Emily. God, I love you so much."

The two share another kiss. Reluctantly, JJ starts the SUV and they head for the office, with a quick stop at a bakery to pick up chocolate cupcakes with pink icing. As they drive, Emily pulls out her iPhone and hits one particular number.

"Hello, Emily. You're not in jail again, are you?" Elizabeth Prentiss teases.

Emily grins. "Be nice to me, Mother, or I won't send you the latest picture of your granddaughter."

Absolute silence greets that statement. Emily moves the phone away from her ear and makes sure she hasn't lost the call. She hasn't.

"Mother?"

"Oh, Emily," Elizabeth whispers. "A…a granddaughter? Really? You're having a girl?"

Emily can hear the tears in her mother's voice and tears up, too. "Yes, mother. A girl."

"Oh…oh, honey…I'm so…oh…"

"Yeah, that's kind of how we feel, too. Mom, she's just beautiful."

"I'm sure she is. She's part of both of you. And your love alone will fill her with beauty. Can I tell your father?"

Emily smiles. "Of course you can. Um, Mom, I need to go. We're almost to the office and I need to call Jen's parents, too."

"Right. Yes, of course. Emily, I love you all so much. Thank you for calling me."

"I love you, too, Mom. Talk to you soon."

Emily hangs up and then hits the Jareau's home phone. There is no answer so she hangs up. "No way am I telling them on their machine."

"Mom must be substituting today," JJ says. "Dang it! Leave a message on her cell to call us back. Stress to her it's nothing bad."

Emily chuckles and calls Sandy's cell. "Hi, Sandy. When you have a chance, can you call either me or JJ? We just have a quick question for you. Love you." She hangs up and looks at JJ. "How did that sound?"

JJ grins. "Good. We will tell her together, Em, right?"

Emily squeezes JJ's hand. "You know we will."

* * *

JJ sends a text to Hotch asking him to assemble the team. He calls them into the conference room just before they arrive. They assume it's for a case and he doesn't correct them. As JJ and Emily hurry in he even barks at them.

"You're late."

"Sorry, sir. We had to stop for something," JJ explains as Emily shuts the conference room door.

"And what was so important that you delayed BAU business?" Hotch asks.

Emily smile and sets a white box on the table. "We had to bring a gift."

"If those are donuts let me at them," Morgan says.

JJ grins. "Sorry, Morgan, not donuts." She opens the lid. "Just cupcakes."

She shows them the cupcakes with letters on them spelling out "IT'S A GIRL!" Around the table mouths drop open. The moment of silence is broken by the earsplitting squeal from Garcia.

"YEESSSSSSSSS!"

She leaps up and pulls the women into a hug. Soon everyone is hugging the women, thrilled to know about little baby "Questionmark Amy Prentiss." Hotch chuckles.

"You know, now you really have to come up with a better name than 'Questionmark' before she's born."

"Why? It flows so nicely," JJ jokes.

Emily wraps her arms around JJ's waist. "I'm kind of partial to Roxanne…so she can still be called Rocky."

JJ looks at her wife in shock. "Are…are you being serious?"

Emily shrugs. "What can I say? It's grown on me. And like you said, the movie Rocky took some hits and kept winning. Our Rocky has taken more than a few hits and keeps winning. Why mess with a good thing?"

Reid starts to laugh. "Emily, your mother is going to lose her mind."

Emily grins. "She's so happy to be having a granddaughter she'll get over it. She now has a grandson and will soon have a granddaughter. In her eyes, life is perfect no matter what the name."

Morgan nods as he bites into a cupcake. "Want me to do any changes to the paint scheme in the nursery?"

JJ shakes her head. "No, we love everything you did in there. The colors are perfect for Winnie the Pooh and we don't plan to change the decorations."

"But we'll keep that offer in mind when she wants her own room with colors of her choosing," Emily promises.

Morgan smiles. "You got it. My Goddaughter will have whatever she wants. Your money and my skills will see to it."

Emily steps over and gives him a hug and kisses his cheek. "Thanks, Derek." She lifts up the last cupcake. "I need to take this to someone."

"Who?" Garcia asks.

Emily grins. "A certain pod person."

The team's laughter follows her as she leaves the room and heads for Straus' office. She taps lightly on the open door. Straus looks up.

"Agent Prentiss? Is everything okay?"

Emily smiles and nods. "Perfect. Just wanted you to have this." She hands the chief the sweet with a "T" on it.

Straus is baffled. "Does it mean 'trouble'?"

Emily rolls her eyes and quirks her mouth in amusement. "It probably could. It was part of a set that said 'It's a girl' on them."

Straus slowly stands, her face breaking into a beaming smile…that scares Emily greatly. "Really? You're having a girl?"

Emily nods. "Yes, ma'am. A little girl."

Straus steps around the desk and gives Emily a big hug. "Congratulations, Emily. I am so happy for you."

Emily had stiffened at the contact. It had nothing to do with the unexpected hug so much as it did with the distinctive smell of bourbon. Fresh bourbon. As the hug ends, Emily studies the woman's face. The slightly bloodshot eyes tell the tale.

_"My God…she's…she's lit,"_Emily thinks to herself. She forces a smile to her face. "Well, I need to get back to my desk. I just…wanted you to know."

"Thank you, Agent Prentiss."

Emily nods and heads back to the bullpen. She stands at her desk a moment, looking up at Rossi's office. Does he know? Does he suspect? Do I dare say something? She closes her eyes a moment. If it was Jen, she'd want to know so she could help. She makes her way up to his office and walks in, closing the door behind her.

"Dave? We need to talk."


	3. Chapter 3

Detective Martin Florence stares at the scene in front of him. He has been a homicide detective for over 10 years but this scene has him gagging like a rookie. His partner, rookie detective Todd Baylor, had left the house and puked in the garden. And several other officers had done the same. No one would be teased. No one would be looked down upon. The scene was just that bad.

Eugene Tally lies in his bed. Duct tape is wrapped around his head, covering his mouth. Additionally, it has been looped from his chin up over his head. There was no way he would have even had the comfort of being able to beg for his life or to simply scream in pain. His eyes are permanently frozen wide open in fear.

"God…sick fuck," the detective mutters as he steps closer to the wound that caused the death.

A discarded circular saw sits on the ground as if the user had just dropped it when done. Tally's arms are tied with Para cord to the headboard; his legs to the footboard. But his hands and feet have been cut off. They lie haphazardly on the floor where they had fallen after the cuts had been finished. The M.E. had said those cuts had been, mercifully, done postmortem. The death blow was the slash across the man's throat, believed to have also been caused by the saw. Florence stares at the body.

"I don't know who did this to you, friend, but we'll find him. I swear we will find him," he vows to the carcass of Eugene Tally.

* * *

**Two days earlier…**

Chloe jumps as the man smacks her in the butt.

"Be a darling, and find a man who can help me out."

Chloe forces a smile to her face. "I'd be happy to help you, sir."

Eugene Tally gives her what he considers a charming grin. "There are plenty of ways you could help me, gorgeous, but right now I need some help finding a particular brand circular saw."

Chloe gives him one more chance. "Well, I am sure I can help you with that. And if we don't carry it I can order you one."

He pats her on the shoulder condescendingly. "Now, princess, you just stay up here and look pretty. I see a fellow over there I can ask."

He walks away to ask a stock clerk who wouldn't know a circular saw from a CD player. Chloe watches with satisfaction as the teen sends the man back to her. She gives Tally a smile.

"Did he help you, sir?"

"Nope. Said I needed to talk to you. So, can you get someone up here that has a lick of sense? Gets a little frustrating to have a chick and a kid being the only ones around to help."

Chloe steps into his personal space, her face a mask of fury. "I can help you, jackwad. What exactly are you looking for?"

He pushes her away. "Never fucking mind. Uppity bitch!"

He brushes past her as he storms out of the store. As he gets in his car, Chloe smiles…and fingers his wallet which she had lifted from him. She opens it and quickly writes down his address. Doesn't matter what he had been looking for. If he doesn't find it somewhere else she would find a different way to end the male chauvinist pigs life.

She drops his wallet on the floor and kicks it a little under the counter so that it appears it has simply been dropped. He would come back for it. And it could give him one more chance to save his life. She hopes he doesn't take it.

He doesn't. He returns two hours later, buys the saw she would have recommended and leaves.

* * *

**Present day…**

Florence pats his partner on the shoulder. "You okay, Baylor?"

Baylor shrugs. "I…I don't know. Man, that was…that was bad. I'm sorry, Marty."

Florence shakes his head. "No need to be. Nothing wrong with a scene like that turning your stomach."

Baylor looks at his partner, a man he greatly respects. "Didn't turn yours."

Florence smiles sadly. "Been doing this too long. It's just another horror movie I'll replay in my dreams. Gave up puking about them the same time I gave up sleep."

Baylor sighs and nods. "Yeah…I guess so."

"Come on. Nothing we can do until the M.E. finishes the autopsy. Let's get the bastard into the system and see if anything pops. Sick fuck that did this knew him that much is obvious."

Baylor frowns. "Why?"

"Son, you only do someone like that if you hate them. No stranger makes you do that shit."

Baylor just nods and follows his partner to their unmarked. They head back to the station to start the "This Is Your Life" on Eugene Tally, hoping to find the man in his past that could hate him so much.


	4. Chapter 4

Rossi gestures to the couch. He can tell this isn't a business visit. They both sit down and Emily picks at her nails trying to figure out how to say what she needs to say. He reaches over and takes her hands.

"You'll hate yourself if you keep doing that," he says gently.

She forces a smile to her face. "Right. Thanks." She takes a deep breath and looks up into his eyes. "You have always been there for me, Dave. Always. And…and I hope you know I can be there for you, too."

He nods, smiling. "Never doubt it."

"Good. Good. Right. Good." She takes another deep breath. "We…we know. The team. We know about you and Straus."

He sits back, chuckling. "I had a feeling you did. You _are_ great profilers after all."

Emily nods, trying to figure out how to bring up what she came in to say. Maybe he knows and is covering for Straus. Maybe she hides it better when they are together. Maybe he just doesn't care. Maybe—

"Emily…what's wrong?"

Emily looks into his eyes. She sees concern and realizes he thinks this is about her. She sighs. "Dave…Straus is drunk. Right now. Bourbon from the smell of it."

Rossi stiffens. Obviously this is nowhere near what he thought was going to be said. "Are you sure? I mean, I know she likes a drink after work but—"

"I'm sure," she interrupts. "She gave me a hug when I told her about Rocky. She reeks of bourbon. And it's fresh, not like she's sweating it out after a bender." She sees the doubt and disappointment in his eyes. She knows it is directed at her. "Da—Rossi, if she's caught her career is over."

"And you'd like that, wouldn't you? Get rid of the 'Wicked Witch' as you've called her." He stands, obviously angry. "You're wrong, Emily. And I won't be part of your campaign to destroy her."

Emily stands. "I wouldn't do that to her. To anyone, Rossi. You know that!"

"Get out, Emily. And next time you have a vendetta, leave me out of it."

Emily stares at him a minute. She slowly nods. "Fine." She heads for the door, pausing before she opens it. "I'll still be here for you, Dave. Day or night."

He just grunts as she walks out. Emily makes her way to her desk. Morgan, on his way to his, sees the tension in her shoulders.

"Em? You okay?"

She glances towards Rossi's office and sees the man glaring at her. She shrugs. "I will be."

Morgan looks from her to Rossi and back. "Everything okay with—"

"Derek…please…not now."

Morgan slowly nods and continues on to his desk. He can tell she needs to talk but now just isn't the right time for her. She looks over and catches his eye. He smiles and nods, the unspoken acknowledgement that he'll be there for her when she needs him. She grins and nods back.

* * *

JJ is finishing up the instructions Reid will need to have take on some of the refusal duties when her job changes. This would be the last thing she would need to do to officially stop being a liaison and start being a profiler. She smiles.

"Just about one month, Prentiss, and you will be a full-on profiler. Life is pretty fucking good." Her grin widens. "And I can smack that ass in White Collar with my new creds. God, that will be a _great_ day!"

She is still smiling about that when her phone rings. Her grin gets bigger as she sees her mother's cell number. She sends a quick email to Emily as she answers.

"Hi, Mom. How's it going?"

"Going well. Just filling in at the high school today. Thank goodness it's the Advanced Placement kids. They know what to do and just do it. Feels more like babysitting than teaching."

JJ chuckles. "Does it make you miss doing it full time?"

Sandy sighs. "Sometimes. Then they put me in with the kids who don't want to be in school and I go back to enjoying my retirement."

JJ laughs as Emily walks into her office and closes the door. "I can understand that." She puts the phone on speaker. "So, I guess you're returning Emily's call?"

"Yes. If she wants to sweep us away on another vacation it will just be me. Your father can't get another week off until Fall."

JJ grins. "Nope, not a vacation. Just had to let you know something that happened this morning."

"Oh, what?"

JJ nods towards Emily, who steps towards the phone. "We just wanted to let you know that Rocky is a perfectly healthy, developing on-time, baby girl."

There is silence on the other end of the line. Then a shuddering breath. "A-a girl? Really? Oh, Jenny! Emily! Oh, a girl!"

JJ smiles. "Yep. And from the way she's kicking she inherited my soccer genes."

"Oh, girls! I am so happy for you! Oh, oh, so happy! I can't wait to tell your father! Have you told your brother yet?"

"Nope. We figure we'll call him tonight so he and Shelby can find out together. How the hell do we pay them back for this, Mom?"

"Now, Jenny, you know they don't need anything. They were happy to do this for you."

JJ gets tears in her eyes. "I know…but it just…it's so…"

Emily smiles and squeezes her wife's shoulder. "Sorry, Sandy, our communications liaison is unable to speak right now."

Sandy chuckles. "Not surprising. Oh, rats, bell is ringing for next class. Expect a call from your father tonight. You girls be good. Love you both."

"Love you, too, Sandy."

"Love you, Mom."

JJ disconnects and stands to pull Emily into a hug. "I love you so much, Em."

Emily sighs into her wife's hug. "I love you, too, Jen."

JJ eases back and looks into Emily's eyes. For the first time she sees the slightly haunted look in them.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Well, something. But we can't talk about it here. Tell you on the way home."

JJ nods. "Okay. But if you need to talk before then, I'm here for you."

Emily smiles and kisses her temple. "I know, Jen. I know."

They share another kiss and Emily heads back out to her desk. She glances up at Rossi's office but the door is closed. She sighs, hoping she hasn't destroyed her relationship with him.

* * *

On the way home, JJ reaches across the armrest and takes her wife's hand. "So are you going to tell me what's going on with you today? You should be on Cloud 9 that we're having a daughter and you look like you lost your best friend."

Emily sighs. "Jen…Straus was drunk when I went to see her."

"What? But it was like 11:30! Are you sure?"

Emily nods. "Yeah. Had a bit of a flashback to my…my Dad. I missed the signs with him. I didn't miss them with Straus."

"Oh, God. We should tell Dave."

Emily wipes the tear that slips down her cheek. "I did," she whispers.

JJ glances at her…and pulls over to the side of the road. "Em…what did he say?"

"He got pissed. He accused me of making it up just to get rid of her. Fuck, Jen, if that was my aim I'd have gone to HR not to him. He said I was trying to draw him into my own personal vendetta against her. I swear, Jen, that's not it."

"I know that, sweetheart. Dave was out of line. I get that he's in shock, maybe even in denial, but he didn't need to take it out on you."

Emily shrugs. "Maybe he did. Maybe he knows and I'm just an easy target to take it out on."

"Then it will be my turn to be upset. He shouldn't have—OH MY GOD!"

JJ and Emily both jump, startled when someone taps on JJ's window. They had been so involved in their conversation they hadn't noticed the car pull up behind them. JJ glares at Dave Rossi as she lowers her window.

"What?"

"I was…hoping to give Emily a ride home," he says contritely.

"We're almost there," JJ points out.

"I know. Should be long enough for me to grovel my way back into both of your good graces."

JJ stares at him. He does look ashamed. She turns to her wife. "Em? It's up to you."

Emily squeezes JJ's hand and gets out of the Lexus. She heads back to Rossi's sedan. JJ reaches out and grabs his arm.

"Make this right, Dave. Or I swear I will make your life a living hell," she warns.

He nods. "I will, Jennifer. I promise."

He gets into his car. Emily has her arms crossed across her chest. It doesn't take a profiler to see she is upset. Even worse…she's disappointed.

"I knew, Emily." She slowly turns and looks at him. "I've tried to get her to stop but she's a functioning alcoholic. She can't work without it and, so far, it hasn't interfered with her job."

"So far," Emily reiterates.

He nods. "I know. It will eventually. And I will be there for her when she falls. She's not ready to get help yet. All I can do is hope she won't fall far when it does happen."

"Dave, if she _ever_ goes into the field, she could derail an entire case. Doesn't she see that?"

Dave shrugs. "Not very likely that she will go out of the office but…if she does…I will go to HR myself to stop it. I swear."

"And what if you're not there? Then what?" Emily pushes.

"I…I just don't know."

Emily slowly uncrosses her arms. She reaches over and takes his hand. "Dave, don't let her actions bring you down. You worked too long and hard to help establish the BAU, to bring what we do to national prominence. Don't let her ruin that for you."

"I won't, kid. Promise." He glances out the windshield and sees JJ hasn't moved. "So, think we should get going so she doesn't strain her eyes watching us in the rearview mirror?"

Emily grins. "Yeah, probably a good idea. Stay for dinner?"

"I think I can do that."

Emily nods as Rossi pulls out and passes JJ. Emily waves to her wife. JJ sighs with relief.

"Good. Didn't want to have to kick an old man's ass today," she mutters as she follows Rossi up Route 1.


	5. Chapter 5

Detective Florence sits up straight at his desk. "Son of a bitch." He hangs up the phone and looks at his partner.

"We got another murder."

Baylor looks confused. "We're still in the early stages of the saw death."

"That's why we were called. We'll be picking up a file on a guy that got killed with a hammer. And there's a fresh scene to go to. Well, not really fresh. Guy's been dead at least a week based on the decomp. The vic has screws driven into his skull and chest. Bastard that did it left the tool at the scene."

"And I'm guessing the hammer was left at that particular murder, too?"

"Yeah. We got ourselves a fucking serial killer. Let's go check out the latest kill and then I need to get with the chief. We need help with this."

"A task force?"

"Better. The BAU. Let's go." As they start out the door, they see another detective coming on duty. Florence calls out to him. "Hey, LaMontagne, got a second?"

Will walks over and nods. "Sure. What's up?"

Florence gives him the run down on the 3 cases. "You think that BAU team your ex is with could help?"

Will sighs. "Yeah, sounds like they crazy shit they deal with all the time. Want me to make a call?"

"Maybe. Gonna check out the third victim first. I'll get the write-ups done and we can call them together. I'm telling you, Will, this crazy motherfucker needs to be stopped. Any help she can get us will be appreciated."

Will nods. "I know. Give me a holler when you get back. Gonna be in paperwork hell today so I'll enjoy the break."

Will heads to his desk and sits down. He smiles at the picture of Henry taped to his computer screen. He hadn't worked with JJ since the Florida case. And he hadn't spent a great deal of time with her since his ill-advised snatch of Henry. The team would come if they think they can help. He can only hope what he did with Henry won't make things uncomfortable for any of them.

* * *

As they pull up outside the house, Florence looks at Baylor.

"You ever been on scene with a body in advanced decomposition?"

Baylor swallows. "Yes, sir. In Afghanistan. Doesn't mean I'm used to it. Still have fucking nightmares about it."

Florence nodded. "Yeah, I bet. Just like the saw guy, you need to get out and puke, do it. Nothing wrong with that."

Baylor nods. "Right. Still don't know how it doesn't get to you."

Florence sighs. "You had Afghanistan. I had Katrina."

Baylor looks at him. "Ah. Right."

The two men head into the house. They both notice the young officer guarding the door has a distinctive green shade on his face. As soon as they enter the house, the smell assaults them. They make their way back to where they can hear people moving around, glancing at the rooms as they go.

Baylor shakes his head. "Nothing taken again. TV, stereo, DVD player, all of it here."

"Yep. This is about murder, plain and simple."

They step to the doorway of the room, not moving in any further since the crime scene techs are already at work. A drill sits casually on the end of the bed, as if waiting to be used once more. It is covered with blood. From the doorway they can see how the skin had swelled and split around the immovable screws. Five in the forehead; possible more in the hairline. Three in the chest that they could see. The ME sees the cops and moves to them.

"Damnedest fucking thing I've ever seen. And it's the third one in two months."

"What killed him?"

"Honestly, don't know yet. Too far gone to even guess while he's here. There is one screw with a large head right in his heart area. I hope that was the first and the rest was just some sick fuck's idea of decoration."

Florence nods. "Yeah, me, too. Call us when you know something?"

"You got it. This guy will be our immediate focus since he's tied to two other deaths. You calling in the FBI?"

Florence nods. "Yep. Hope to hell they can come. I don't want to get into this killer's head. Let them do it."

The ME nods as Florence and Baylor leave."

"Why didn't we stay longer?" Baylor asks.

"We saw that robbery wasn't an option, we saw the drill and the screws, nothing more we can do here except get sick. I need to talk to the captain. Come in and see how we request help from the famous Behavioral Analysis Unit."

Baylor just nods, incredibly glad to be out of that house of horror.


	6. Chapter 6

JJ hands the remote to Garcia. It had been the first case the analyst had chosen for them to respond to and it will be the first she presents. Though nervous, she takes a deep breath and turns on the big screen.

"Three bodies have been found in New Orleans in the last two months. All men, killed by tools they owned. Once they have been killed, the unsub then mutilates the body."

As she had flipped through the pictures, all the agents had winced. No matter the horrors they have seen even they can still be hit by the depth of depravity in some killers. As they get to the third victim found and see the advanced rot of the body, Emily leaps up.

"'Scuse me," she mutters as she races out of the room.

Everyone looks at JJ. Hotch frowns. "Thought the morning sickness was over?"

JJ shrugs. "As I found out, sometimes these pictures can bring it back. It's not morning sickness so much as a hormonal and emotional reaction to what we see. She may just need to catch her breath and calm her stomach. I'll check on her when we're done."

Hotch nods then motions for Garcia to continue.

"Anyway, police in The Big Easy know they are dealing with a serial killer and are requesting our help to catch him before the body count climbs."

Morgan looks at JJ. "Is this one of Will's cases?"

Garcia answers before JJ. "Nope. You'll be working with detectives Florence and Baylor. Florence has been a detective for 10 years. He has numerous awards and decorations for his work with the New Orleans police, including a medal for bravery for his actions during Hurricane Katrina. Baylor is an Army vet in his first year as a detective after 2 years on the beat for NOPD. In the Army he received a Bronze Star and 2 Purple Hearts during his time in Afghanistan. He also has several commendations for his time on the streets in New Orleans."

Rossi smiles. "Did you run their credit reports, too?"

Garcia frowns. "Was I supposed to?"

Hotch grins. "He was teasing, Garcia. Great job. Wheels up in 30. JJ, let Prentiss know she can stay behind if she needs to."

JJ grins. "Trying to get me in trouble, boss?"

The others chuckle as they head out. JJ makes her way into the bathroom and finds Emily splashing cool water on her face.

"You okay, baby?"

Emily nods. "Yeah. Just…make sure those pics are out of my case file before I review it on the plane."

JJ nods, rubbing Emily's lower back. "Will do. Don't shoot the messenger, but Hotch said if you need to stay behind you can."

Emily grins. "Want to pretend the suggestion caused a huge fight?"

JJ chuckles. "A simple 'I'm coming' would be sufficient, Agent Prentiss."

"But not as much fun, Agent Jareau. And just to ease your fears, I didn't actually throw up. Just felt like I might."

"Good. And your blood pressure?"

Emily nods. "Okay, I think. Feel free to check, Mrs. Prentiss."

JJ smiles at the name change. She steps forward and checks her wife's pulse. After a few minutes she nods.

"Feels good."

Emily places her hands on JJ's hips. "So, I didn't notice before I ran out…is Will on this case?"

"Nope. Two other detectives. Martin Florence, who I know. He's a good guy, a real 'cop's cop' so Morgan should like him, too. Todd Baylor is a new detective but being an Army vet something tells me he has seen enough that he won't be too squeamish on this case. I'm sure we'll see Will, though."

"You going to be okay with that?"

"He's Henry's father. I have to be okay with seeing him. I won't hurt Henry. Besides he was…_is_a good guy mostly. I think I'll be fine as long as Aunt Jolene doesn't show up."

Emily smiles. "I'll hide your guns if I happen to see or hear her."

"Deal, Mrs. Prentiss."

The two share a quick kiss then head out to get their go bags and briefcases. Hotch stops by Emily's desk.

"All okay, Prentiss?"

"Perfect, sir."

He nods. "Good. See you on the jet."

"Yes, sir."

As she grabs her briefcase, Morgan picks up her go bag. "Morgan, I can get it."

"I know you can. But it's the one day a year I do a good deed. This looks to be the easiest one," he tells her with a grin.

Emily laughs. "Right. Well, get a move on then, Morgan. Don't want someone to steal my seat."

He chuckles as Reid catches up to them and they all head to the elevator together.

* * *

Once on the jet, JJ hands a folder to Emily. "Here's your amended file."

Reid frowns. "Amended?"

JJ grins at him. "Took out the photos of the third scene showing the second victim."

He nods. "Ah. Good plan."

Emily just grins. Once everyone has had a chance to review all the information they gather mid-jet to start the profile.

"Obviously a man, 25-35, angry at the world," Morgan starts.

"He uses weapons of opportunity. He doesn't bring them with him which hints at being disorganized," Rossi states. "But the clean entry, the overkill and post-mortem mutilation speaks to this being personal, planned, organized. That's strange."

JJ studies the pictures. "Why exactly are we sure it's a man?"

Hotch is impressed the new profiler would ask. "The degree of overkill and the use of tools. The scene is very messy which most women wouldn't leave behind. It's not a clean kill."

JJ frowns. "But women will mutilate like this if someone has hurt them in some way. And the tools being the victims say she could be using something that means something to him. Something she would know about. The scene being messy is just a product of the kill and mutilation, not a necessity to the kill."

The rest of the team exchange looks. Those were valid points. Sometimes fresh eyes really are a huge benefit. Hotch slowly nods. Emily smiles proudly. God, her wife was _so_ good.

"Okay, keep gender neutral for now. When we land, Morgan, JJ head to the first and last murder scenes. Those were victims 1 and 2, even though the second was found last. Rossi, Reid, head for the second scene, which is victim 3. Prentiss, head to the station with me to find out what the press is saying, if anything. Then help me review some of the statements from friends and family to see who we need to re-interview."

Morgan is frowning at two pictures. He flips through the evidence log, frowning. "Do we know when the victims bought the weapons? They look pretty new."

Hotch shakes his head. "Not sure. Get Garcia on that. Could be the connection between victims is a hardware store. Could be a reach but won't hurt to check it out."

Morgan nods and whips out his cell phone. He gets Garcia tracing the credit histories of the three victims. The hammer was most likely paid for with cash but the drill and saw would probably have been check or charge. If there is a paper trail, Garcia will find it.

* * *

When Hotch and Prentiss arrive at the police precinct they are met by Will. He smiles at them.

"Welcome back to Naw'lins," he drawls. "Wish y'all were here for pleasure instead of business."

Hotch nods. "Same here."

"The captain had a meeting at City Hall. He asked me to show y'all where y'all can set up." He looks at Emily. "So far the media hasn't gotten wind of this but we figure it won't be long. We're between spokespeople right now so the Captain asked if you would mind taking the lead as things develop?"

Emily nods. "Sure. Not a problem."

He leads them to a large room near the back of the building. "Here you are. We brought in the boards for y'all this morning. I told Florence that y'all would set them up the way you wanted so he just left the boxes on the table. Truth is, there's not much. No signs of forced entry, weapons are the vic's, no hair or DNA left behind as yet."

Hotch sighs. "Not good. Do we know when the autopsy of the third vic will be ready?"

Will shakes his head. "No, Florence didn't mention it. But he did say the ME was flagging all these cases as Priority 1. Hopefully there will be no more but if there are they will be dealt with ahead of everyone else. We're still rebuilding this town. We're all pretty sensitive to a killer that could drive tourists away."

"Good. Well, Prentiss and I will get set up. Will you be around if we need anything?"

"Yeah, I'll be at my desk prepping for trial tomorrow. Give me a yell if you need anything, Hotch." He shakes Hotch's hand and turns to Emily. He smiles. "Em, you look beautiful. Pregnancy sure agrees with you."

Emily smiles. "Thanks, Will."

"How far along are you now?"

Emily's smile broadens. "I'm at 22 weeks. And we just found out a couple days ago Rocky is a girl."

Will beams. "Really? Henry's gonna have a little sister? That's great!"

"Yep, we're really excited, too. Maybe one night we can go out to dinner with you and Helen, work permitting for us."

He blushes. "Uh, well…if JJ wants to."

Emily lays a hand on her arm. "I'll work on her. For Henry."

He nods. "Thanks, Em. Well, I'll let you get to work. Good to see you, Em."

"You, too, Will."

He closes the door as he leaves. Hotch looks at Emily as they start to sort the evidence boxes.

"Did something happen between JJ and Will?"

Emily sighs. Only Garcia knew about Will's attempt to get custody of Henry. And only because JJ had needed someone other than Emily to talk to about it. "It was…after Doyle. There was…we had…a misunderstanding. It's sort of worked out but Will really pissed Jen off. But if we have to work with him it will be okay. Swear, Hotch."

He nods. "Okay. But if there's any tension interfering with the case I'll have to step in."

"We know, Hotch. You won't have to. Promise."

He nods and starts to pin information up on the corkboards that had been provided for them. Emily follows suit.


	7. Chapter 7

JJ and Morgan stand at the threshold of the room where a man was beaten to death with a ball peen hammer. Though the mattress had been removed so techs could go over it the blood spatter on the walls and floor remain. They paint a scene of horrific violence.

"If this truly was his first kill, he quickly figured out that power tools would make his job easier," JJ points out.

Morgan nods. "Yeah. Or the tools have some sort of significance to the unsub or the victim."

"Well, you're the builder, what would a ball peen hammer be used for instead of a claw tooth?"

"It's just a hammer. A claw tooth hammer is used so you can pull out nails. There is no reason to use one over the other, really."

"So this guy is a CPA, no one he knows said he was crafty or buildy, why would he have a ball peen hammer?"

Morgan glances at her "Buildy?"

She grins. "It's a word. Now answer the question."

He chuckles. "To be honest, I don't know. They are usually a couple bucks cheaper so maybe an accountant would care about that. Especially if we figure out why he needed it."

JJ is looking at the man's dresser. She knows the crime pictures showed his rings, watch and wallet were still there when he was found. She looks around but sees nothing extremely personal in this room. Like a lot of bachelors, it's just a room.

She wanders out and down the hall. The third door she comes to is his office. This is what she is looking for. The walls have his degrees and certifications on them. A few pictures of him on vacation with his buddies and some with people that may be his family are on the shelves. The books all deal with tax laws. It was _truly_ a home office.

She steps to the wall and takes a closer look at the certificates he has. One is dated just the month before. Others are older but the frames don't have any dust on them. She kneels down, dragging a gloved finger through the drywall dust on the floor.

"Morgan! I think I found what he needed the hammer for." Morgan joins her a couple minutes later. She points at the wall. "These have just been hung. I bet we'll find he was getting ready to start working from home or even go out on his own with a home-based business."

Morgan nods. "Makes sense. We'll see if Garcia can confirm that theory but since these are the only things we've seen hung in the house I bet you are right."

She stands. "This was a recent purchase even if he paid cash we need to show his picture around to hardware stores between here and his office."

Morgan nods. "Agreed. I'll get Hotch working on that. We need to head to the second victim's house." He looks at JJ. "He was in advanced decomp, Jayje. I'm just warning you as a friend that his house will still reek."

She grins at him. "Morgan, I went to the morgue with Hotch in Galveston. Want to know what partially digested body parts that had been in sharks smell like?"

He laughs. "Uh, right. Pass."

She pats his arm. "Thanks for the warning, though."

* * *

Reid and Rossi stare at the dark, dried puddles on the floor. No, the victim's heart hadn't been beating when his hands and feet were removed but the severed limbs had acted like open faucets, allowing most of his blood to simply leak out onto the floor. Only that which gravity had caused to settle lower than the limbs had remained in the man's body.

"I truly think this could be the worst murder room I've ever been in," Rossi states with disgust.

"I concur," Reid acknowledges.

The two men spread out and note, much like Morgan and JJ had, that robbery was definitely not the motive. With nothing in the room to help them, the men start to investigate the rest of the house. In the basement, Reid finds what the saw had been needed for.

"Rossi! Down here."

The older agent walks down and sees the sawhorses, 2x4's, nails, and other construction material. He frowns.

"What was he doing?"

Reid holds up very detailed plans. "He was making a Man-Cave." He hands the schematics to Rossi. "Was going to be a place to watch sports I'm guessing."

Rossi nods. "Yeah. Would have been nice. These are very detailed. What did this guy do for a living again?"

"He was an EMT but I'd say from all the stuff we're seeing he liked to build things in his spare time." He sees a large trash bin and reaches into it. "And here's why he needed a new saw." He holds up one that shows signs the motor caught fire. "He upgraded, too, as the one used to kill him is a more expensive model."

Rossi looks at Reid in surprise. "And how would you know that?"

"I looked up the prices of the various murder weapons online at . This brand is a low end brand and runs about $50 cheaper than the one he was killed with."

Rossi chuckles. "And here I thought you had a hidden talent for construction."

Reid laughs. "No, trust me, that wouldn't be the case."

Rossi finds the box for the new saw. He sees that Eugene Tally had carefully taped the receipt to the box.

"Smart man. Now we know where you bought this. Time to find out if the other victims shopped there, too."

He puts the receipt in an evidence bag and seals it up. They search through the house for another 20 minutes but don't find anything. As they leave Rossi calls Hotch and lets him know what they found.

"We have a receipt from the local Ace store. We're going to swing by and see if they recognize Tally."

"Good. Show them pictures of the other two victims, too. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Sounds good. We'll head back to the precinct after that."

* * *

Morgan and JJ are smacked in the face by the stench and stifling heat in the next house.

"Got to love the heat and humidity of New Orleans," Morgan mutters.

"Why the hell did the cops turn the AC off? That's got to make the smell worse!" JJ complains.

Morgan shrugs. "Could have been the family requested it to save money."

"Ugh. Maybe we can get a subpoena to get it turned back on in case we have to come back here," she jokes.

He chuckles. "Good luck with that one."

They do the cursory search of the bedroom and then move to the rest of the house. In one bedroom Morgan finds the project the dead man had been working on.

"Oh boy," he whispers.

The room had been set up as a sex playroom. The new St. Andrews Cross is the centerpiece of the room. He sighs. So far there had been no sexual angle to the deaths but this one room means they will have to consider that.

"Hey, Morgan, I found a-oh, my God!"

Morgan turns and sees JJ staring at the various sex toys and furniture in the room. She is blushing bright red and he can't help but laugh. "Jayje, if you and Emily have a room like this promise me I'll never know."

JJ shakes her head and grins. "If she finds out you even made that joke you're a dead man, Morgan."

"True. Did you find something?"

"Yeah. Receipt for the drill. He bought it three days before the day it's believed he died from Ace. I called Hotch and he said Rossi and Reid found a receipt at their house, too. They are heading to Ace to see if anyone remembers the men being in there."

"Good. Bag that receipt as evidence and let's get the hell out of here."

JJ nods, glancing once more around the room. "You don't have to ask me twice."

* * *

Rossi and Reid wait for the Ace Hardware manager to finish punching in a special order. They had showed the photos to the two other employees working but they didn't recognize the victims. When the manager finishes he walks over to them.

"Hi, officers, what can I help you with?"

"I'm Agent David Rossi and this is Dr. Spencer Reid of the FBI. Do you recognize these three men?"

The man seems shocked to see the FBI in his store. He looks at the pictures and shakes his head. "Uh, nope. They aren't regulars. Did they do something wrong?"

"They were murdered," Rossi explains. "We found proof they had all shopped here prior to their deaths. It may be nothing but we have to follow every lead."

The manager nods, his face pale. "Uh, right. Sure. Of course."

"Do you recognize this receipt?" Reid asks, holding up the evidence bag.

"Yeah, it's ours. Let's see…uh…Billy checked this guy out." He looks at the agents. "He's not here today. Should I call him in?"

Rossi shakes his head. "No. But if you could give us his phone number and address we'll follow up with him."

"Sure. Come with me." He takes them into the office and writes out the information from Billy's employee file. "Here you go. You don't think Billy—"

"No! Of course not," Rossi assures him. "We just hope he may have seen something or the victim may have said something that he could remember. Thank you for your time."

"Sure. Need anything else come see me."

The agents nod and head out. They enter Billy's address in the GPS and see they are pretty close. They make their way to his house. As they pull up they see at least 4 cars parked in the yard and driveway. It is a bit rundown. It practically screams "guys with no money" at them. They knock on the door and hear a voice inside.

"DUDE! The pizza's are here! Give me the money."

Reid and Rossi exchange a grin. As the door is opened they are assailed with the smell of marijuana. The young man at the door stares at them in confusion.

"Dude, you ain't the pizza guys."

Rossi grins. "Wow! You should be a Rhodes Scholar." He holds up his badge. "FBI. We're looking for Billy."

The man's eyes get impossibly wide considering how stoned he is. "Dude, I swear, it's just marijuana! Don't arrest him!"

Rossi laughs. "We just need to ask him about his job. Please tell him to come to the door and I promise to forget about the marijuana."

The guy nods and hurries back into the house. Reid had stepped a little farther away from the front door. Rossi looks at him in concern.

"You okay, Reid?"

Reid nods. "Yeah…just…need to stay away from that stuff, you know? No need to give Straus reason to drug test me."

Rossi nods. "I know, kid. You can wait in the car if you want. I don't think these dope heads are dangerous."

Reid shakes his head. "No, I'm fine."

A nervous 19 year old opens the door. "Uh, I'm Billy."

Rossi nods and introduces himself. "I just need you to look at a couple pictures for me." He holds them up. "Do you recognize these men?"

Billy stares at them, then shakes his head. "Sorry, no. But, um, my memory isn't really good."

Rossi sighs. "That's because they crap you're smoking is rotting it. Do yourself a favor, kid, sober up."

Billy just nods as Reid and Rossi leave. With nothing more to do in the field they head to the station. They arrive just as Morgan and JJ do…and as Will is leaving.

"Hey, Will, how you doing?" Morgan asks.

Will smiles. "Doing good. Sorry y'all aren't here to have some fun in the French Quarter."

Rossi grins. "Maybe we'll get to chase the unsub down there and beat him up there. That's always fun."

He chuckles. The men head inside, assuming JJ would want a few minutes alone with Will. The agent and detective stare at each other uncomfortably for a few seconds.

"Jayje," Will finally begins, "I just want to thank you for all the pictures of Henry in Alaska. It looks like he had a really good time."

She smiles and nods. "He did. Heck, he got a puppy out of it so it was wins all around for him."

Will chuckles. "Yeah, it was. Think you all will be done before I head up to see him this weekend?"

JJ shrugs. "It's so early in this investigation who knows? Maybe."

"So, um, Emily said maybe one night we could double date for dinner depending on Helen's schedule and ours. Would that…that be okay?"

JJ smiles. "Sure." She sighs. "I want to get to a point where it doesn't hurt to look at you, Will. The only way to do that is to spend time with you. I can't be so tense around you or when talking about you without it affecting Henry. I swear, Will, I'm working on it."

Will smiles. "Thanks, JJ. I promise not to disappoint you again."

JJ nods. "I know. Look, I need to get inside. Talk to you tomorrow?"

He nods. "I'll be around after I get out of court. Oh by the way, congratulations on your new daughter."

JJ smiles immediately at the thought of Rocky. "Thanks. We're really excited."

"I bet. So…uh, goodnight, Jayje."

"Night, Will."

She heads into the precinct. Will watches her go, still kicking himself for letting his aunt prey on his fears and convince him to try to take Henry. He can only hope JJ one day can completely forgive him and, even more importantly, trust him again.

With nothing much more that can be done that night, the team makes plans for the next day. Morgan and JJ will take the receipt they found to Ace and see if they can speak with the clerk that checked out their victim. They will also show the pictures to any employees that weren't there when Rossi and Reid visited.

The rest of the team will start pouring over the deep backgrounds on the three victims that Garcia had done. At some juncture in their lives, they had made a common enemy. The BAU team is determined to find that enemy before another body ends up in the morgue.


	8. Chapter 8

Emily and JJ climb into their SUV. As JJ turns on the ignition, Emily places a hand on her thigh.

"Did you talk to him?"

JJ nods. "Yes. He told me about dinner." She turns and looks at Emily. "Thank you. I would have never made that offer. Wouldn't have even thought to."

Emily smiles. "I know."

"You did it for Henry, Emily. God, you have done so much for him when so many step-parents are such assholes. Thank you for…for not being one of those types of jerks."

Emily smiles. "Jennifer, do you really think you would be with me if I didn't love Henry wholly and completely? And in loving him, I have to care about Will because he is Henry's father. At some point Will was very special to you. To discount him would be to discount your feelings. I wouldn't disrespect you or Henry in any way. I hope you know that."

JJ smiles, tears in her eyes. "I do know, Emily. I do."

She leans across the armrest and gives her wife a kiss. Holding hands, they drive to the hotel to call Henry and then meet the team for dinner. They have no sooner entered their room when Emily's phone rings.

"Prentiss."

"Agent Prentiss, it's Detective Florence. Some idjit at the coroner's office said the words 'serial killer' to a reporter. News vans are gathering at the precinct as we speak."

"Shit. Give me 10 minutes."

"Thanks, Agent Prentiss. See you soon."

JJ stares at her wife. "Hot date?"

Emily chortles. "I wish." Then she frowns as JJ raises her eyebrows. "Wait! That didn't come out right," she admits with a laugh.

"I should hope not," JJ agrees, laughing.

Emily tells her what's happened. JJ sighs. "Want me to go with you?"

"Nope. Enjoy dinner. Have an anchovy pizza for me," she says with a wink.

"Pushing it, Agent Prentiss. Pushing it," JJ warns.

Emily kisses her wife. "I love you. See you later, baby."

"Love you, too."

Emily heads out, calling Hotch long enough to let him know what's going on. She assures him she can handle the media with no problem. JJ goes ahead and calls Henry.

"Hi, Jennifer!" Francesca answers.

"Hi, Francesca. How are things with a kid, a puppy and a cat?"

Francesca laughs. "Never boring, that is for sure. Sergio is starting to warm up to Alaska but still not willing to be his buddy as yet. Henry and Alaska still play and laugh together very well. Alaska even curled up under Henry's crib when it was naptime. You have a dog that will love and protect your son very much, Jennifer."

JJ grins. "I know. Emily did a great job rescuing him. Just don't tell her I'm okay with it yet," she says devilishly.

Francesca laughs. "You are so bad, Jennifer. It's wonderful!"

"Thanks. So, is the Little Man awake still?"

"Yes, he is. Henry, want to talk to Mommy?"

"MOMMY!" Henry hollers and toddles over to his nanny. Francesca hands him the phone. "MOMMY!"

"Hey, Little Man. Were you a good boy today?"

"Yes!" And from there he starts to babble away. She makes out certain words like cookie and Ska and even book.

"Wow! Sounds like you had a great day." She swallows. "I saw Daddy today. He said to tell you hello."

"DADDY!"

"Yeah, Daddy. He'll be there soon to see you and he can't wait. You'll have to show him Alaska."

"Yes! Ska!"

"Well, Henry, it's time for you to get to bed. I love you, baby."

"Love, Mommy!"

JJ grins. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, Henry. Give the phone back to Francesca now."

"Bye!"

JJ chuckles. He may only know a few words but at least he's using them correctly. And he's no longer dropping the f-bomb on a regular basis so things were looking good. She says goodnight to Francesca and heads out to meet the team for dinner.

* * *

At the police station, Emily gets some cookies and a soda out of the machines before starting to draft a press announcement. Detective Florence smiles at her.

"Tell me if I'm over-stepping, Agent, but that doesn't look like the best meal for a pregnant lady."

Emily smiles. "Nope. But it will have to do for now."

"You like Po-Boy's?"

Emily raises an eyebrow. "Love them. Why?"

"There's a little place down the road that will deliver them to the precinct for us. Oyster or steak?"

"Oyster. With extra sauce."

He nods. "Done." She reaches into her pocket for some money and he waves it away. "My treat since you're dealing with the press and I don't have to."

Emily nods. "Okay. Thanks, Detective."

He nods as she goes back to writing her statement. The press had been told she would speak to them at 9 so she had an hour to eat and finesse a statement saying a whole lot of nothing. Once she has finished her statement, she considers studying some of the evidence again but knows she needs to turn it off for a while or she could miss something.

Thankfully, Florence arrives with her dinner. It is spectacular and accompanied by homemade potato chips. With a Sprite to drink, she has a wonderful dinner and lets Detective Florence know. He smiles.

"Glad you enjoyed it. They make a good meal and treat us pretty good. We're the only ones that get delivery service."

Emily grins. "Lucky me."

"So…you're the stepmother to Will's kid, right?"

Emily nods. "Yes. Henry. He's a doll."

He shakes his head. "I thought Will was crazy when he said y'all could make that situation work." He smiles. "Glad to know I can be wrong sometimes."

Emily nods. "Yeah, it's not the perfect set up but Henry is loved by all of us. He will grow up feeling that and hopefully not go through a lot of the problems kids from broken homes experience."

"I hope you're right. If I may ask, when are you due?"

"End of September. I'll get to do the hot, muggy, DC summer pregnant. Should be a blast," she jokes.

He laughs. "Yeah, my wife did that down here with our first one. After that, she wouldn't let me make love to her without protection until she was sure she would only conceive to be pregnant in the winter."

Emily laughs. "Smart woman. You think a couple of ladies would have considered that, too."

Just then a patrol officer pops his head into the room. "Detective Florence? The press is ready for you."

Florence nods and glances at his watch. We told them 9. They have 5 minutes."

"What should I tell them?"

Florence smiles. "Tell them to talk amongst themselves. No way we're starting early and having some guy running late whining that we didn't give him a chance."

The officer nods. "Yes, sir."

Seven minutes later, Emily steps up to the podium. "Thank you all for coming tonight. I am Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss with the FBI and I will be acting as media spokeswoman for the duration of our investigation. My contact information is on the release being passed around now.

"At this time, a team from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit is here to assist the New Orleans Police Department. We are looking into a series of suspicious deaths to see if they are, in fact, connected or not. I know you all have been told there is a serial killer at work here. At this time, we have not concluded that they are the work of one individual. It would be premature and reckless to report that there is a serial killer at large here or anywhere in Louisiana.

"We ask that you please refrain from spreading fear and instead implore your readers and listeners to come forward if they have any information that could help us find the killer or killers of these three men. As more information becomes available I will be in touch with you about future press conferences. Please make sure to leave your contact numbers with the officer at the door so I have it.

"Since there is nothing more for me to impart to you I will not be taking questions at this time. Thank you for your time and responsible reporting of these cases. Good evening."

She nods and walks out even as reporters start to shout questions at her.

* * *

Hotch turns off his TV. The team was in his room watching the local 10 p.m. news. He smiles at Emily.

"Well done, Prentiss. Good thing we lose our media liaison position in about a month or you may have requested to take the job permanently."

Everyone laughs as Emily blanches. "Not fucking likely, Hotchner!"

"If you say so," he says with a grin. "Everyone get a good night's sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow as Garcia's runs should be completely finished by then."

Everyone heads back to their rooms. As they get into theirs, Emily looks at JJ. "Did you get to talk to Henry?"

"Yep. He's doing good. He and Alaska are still having fun. In fact, Francesca said Alaska curled up under Henry's crib today for naptime."

Emily smiles, her heart ready to burst. "Aw, too cute!"

"Yep." JJ wraps her arms around her wife's waist. "Can I tell you a secret?"

Emily nods. "Always."

JJ tilts her head to the side. "I'm glad we have him."

"Henry?" Emily asks in confusion.

JJ starts to laugh. "Well, yes, him too. But I meant Alaska. I know I completely lost my shit when you first said he was ours but he's really grown on me. I'm glad Henry is going to have such a protector as he grows up."

Emily kisses her wife. "Thank you for telling me that. I'm really glad you're okay with him now."

JJ nods. The women get ready for bed and cuddle up to each other, knowing the next day would be the make or break for the investigation. If they don't have a solid profile by the end of the day they may have another body on their hands.


	9. Chapter 9

"So here's the deal, Legion of Justice, this unsub is either copying someone from Mississippi or they are one and the same," Garcia reports to the team. "Last year, 4 men were killed with their tools in Hattiesburg. The tools were bought at the local TruValue hardware store and the men died within a week of buying them."

"Any employees from that store now at the Ace here in New Orleans?" Rossi asks.

"Not that I can see. But if the unsub is using an alias I wouldn't be able to match them," Garcia explains.

"What weapons were used in those crimes?" Morgan asks.

"A bow rake, a claw hammer, an angle grinder and a chainsaw."

"Ugh," Emily mutters.

"Yeah," Garcia agrees. "This is one sick puppy. Of course, you all never work with nice puppies so I shouldn't be surprised just completely skeeved out by the heinousness of the crimes. Anyway, I've sent you those files to review."

"Good work, Garcia," Hotch tells her as she signs off. He looks at the team. "Rossi, Reid go over everything she is sending in. Prentiss and I will get to work on the tips that came in overnight. JJ, Morgan, get back to Ace and see if the employees recognize the victims."

The team nods and gets to work.

* * *

"Hey, sweetie, think you can find someone to help me with the reciprocating saws?"

"What do you need?" asks Chloe.

"I told you…someone to help me with them. I have questions that need answering by someone with a clue. Go back to being the decoration at the front counter, honey."

Chloe's jaw tightens. "As you wish, sir."

She calls to the manager who helps the man narrow down his choices. He brings the one he has decided on to the counter. Chloe rings him up. He had settled on a mid-level saw. It would be perfect…for Chloe.

"That will be $132.76, sir," Chloe tells him with a sugary smile.

He proceeds to write a check. Chloe is thrilled. "Here you go, sweetie."

She finishes his sale and hands him the receipt. "There you are, sir. Please come again."

He gives her what he thinks is a flirty wink. "Now that I know you're here I'll be sure to come back, sugar."

She giggles like a school girl. "Aw, you're so sweet Mr. Henson."

"Please, sugar, call me Walt."

"Of course, Walt. See you soon," she says with a wink. As he walks out of the store she opens the register drawer and pulls his check back out. She quickly writes down his address and puts the check back. "Yep, Walt, I will see you much sooner than you know," she mumbles as she pockets his address.

The check had said Mr. and Mrs. Walter Henson. She'd never done a double before. She was looking forward to the challenge. She looks up as the chime over the door sounds. She sees a pretty blonde woman and drop-dead gorgeous African-American man. She can only hope he's not a jerk because it would be a shame to kill such a good looking man.

"Can I help you?" she asks them.

Morgan pulls out his credentials. "I'm Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan, this is Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau of the FBI. A couple of colleagues were here yesterday to find out of anyone recognized three men. Were you here?"

"No, sir. It was my day off."

"Okay." He shows her the pictures. "Do you recognize these men?"

She studies the picture. She decides to play half-truthful. "Uh, this one. I sold him a…a drill. Oh, geez, was the credit card he used stolen? I swear, I didn't know!"

Morgan shakes his head. "No his card was fine. But he was murdered."

"Murdered? You mean, like, killed?" Her eyes are wide as if in fright.

Morgan nods. "Yes. Did you notice if anyone was paying attention to him? Or if he seemed nervous?"

Chloe bites her lip. He had been terrified when he awoke to her tying him to the bed. It was intoxicating. "Gee, no. I mean, I don't think so. I just rang him up. Sorry."

Morgan smiles at her. "That's okay. Have you worked here long?"

"Not really. Just moved down here last year. Started here about 4 months ago."

"So what brought you to New Orleans?" JJ asks conversationally.

"Just got sick of where I was living. Had an ex that I couldn't get away from since it was a small town. The news was always talking about the revival of New Orleans so I decided to be part of it and here I am."

JJ nods. "That's great. Where were you living before?"

"Oh, just a small town in Alabama," Chloe lies. "We were about an hour from Mobile. Well, an hour and several centuries."

JJ chuckles. "I'm from the same town in Pennsylvania." Chloe laughs.

"So why did you choose a hardware store? Are you a handygal? Morgan asks.

She smiles. "Sure am. My Dad worked on a farm growing up. As soon as we were old enough we'd go help him. He taught us about tools and construction and everything he knew. Not many tools in this store I can't name or tell you what to do with them."

Morgan smiles and nods. "Excellent! I love it when a lady can talk tools with me."

Chloe gives him a big smile. "Really?"

He nods. "Definitely. I like to renovate houses. Would be great to find a woman that could help out and understand what I'm doing. Any chance you might move to DC?" he asks with a wink.

Chloe blushes and chuckles. "You're sweet. I'll let you know."

JJ just rolls her eyes and moves on to the next employee. She introduces herself and shows him the pictures. "Do you recognize these three men?"

He stares at them a moment then nods. "Yeah." He points to the first victim. "He didn't know a hammer from a wrench. A real bonehead. The other two knew what they needed but were just looking for the best deals on a quality piece of equipment."

"So you helped all 3 men?"

He nods. "Yep. It was just me, Chloe and the manager here two times. Another stock guy, Billy, was here one time because it was truck day. Between you and me the manager just sits on his ass in the office. Chloe was working the register. She probably rang up all of them. Oh, wait…no, I think Billy rang up one guy. I think the saw guy."

"Okay. Thank you for your time."

She makes her way back to Morgan and gives him a look that says they need to talk. He says goodbye to Chloe and follows JJ out.

"You have something?"

"Something more than a phone number," she teases.

"Ha ha," Morgan says, shaking his head.

"So the guy I was talking to is Barry Sweeney. He was here when the victims were and remembers them."

Morgan pulls out his phone. "Garcia, I need you to deep run one of the employees of the hardware store. Barry Sweeney."

"Will do, my favorite obscene caller. Hit you back soon!"

"Thanks, Baby Girl."

* * *

Emily massages her temple with one hand as the other grips the phone in her hand. She is close to throwing it across the room.

"No, ma'am, I don't believe the tools were possessed by the spirits of people killed by pirates in the Gulf." She listens a second more. "Yes, ma'am. Of course. Yes, I've written the name of your priest down and will contact him to perform an exorcism of all tools in New Orleans. Thank you very much for calling."

She hangs up and her head hits the table. "And my doctor wonders why I have blood pressure issues."

Rossi and Reid had heard her side of the 15 minute conversation and could not control their laughter. Rossi pats her on the shoulder and places a bottle of water in front of her.

"You're doing fine, kid. Just don't let the crazies get you down."

Emily slowly looks up at him. "And how the hell do I do that?"

He shrugs. "No idea. Just sounded like the right thing to say."

Emily pushes back from the table and stands. "I need to get some fresh air and clear my head. Tell Hotch I'll be back in five minutes."

Rossi nods as Emily heads outside. She pulls out her phone. One good thing about having a son not in school is you can usually reach him when you need to bring some sunlight into your life. She hits the speed dial for the house and Francesca answers almost immediately.

"Emily! What's wrong? Is Jennifer okay?"

Emily smiles. "She's fine. So am I. Well, I am mostly okay. Just needed to get a long distance Henry Hug to help me face the rest of the day."

Francesca chuckles. "Of course. Henry, want to speak to Mama?"

"MAMA!" He yells excitedly. She hears him running towards the nanny.

In her heart, Emily knows there will come a day where he won't be as excited to speak with his parents. But right now his happy attitude washes over her like a full body massage, rinsing away the tension of her morning.

"Mama!" he says into the phone.

"Hey, Champ. How you doing today?"

"Good!" he proceeds to tell her all about his day. Of course, the only words she understands are Ska, Cookie and Deek.

"Sounds like you're having a great day, Henry. Wish I was there with you."

"Bye!"

"Uh, Henry?"

Francesca chuckles into the phone. "Emily?"

"Is he gone?"

"Sorry but yes. Ska ran by chasing Sergio and Henry ran after them."

Emily laughs at the image in her mind. "Oh, Serg is going to hate me forever."

"Probably. You may not have understood all he said but I promised to take him to Declan's lacrosse game today."

Emily chuckles. "Was wondering why he said 'Deek' in there. That's great, Francesca."

"Do you know how long you will be in New Orleans?"

"No idea. Truth is, we've got bad murders but little evidence. Could be here a few days. In fact, Will may be there sooner than us."

"I see. But you do good and catch this bad man, Emily. Come home soon and _safe_."

"We will sure try, Francesca. We'll sure try."

"Ciao, cara."

"Ciao, Francesca."

* * *

JJ and Morgan had waited in the hardware store parking lot for Garcia's search to finish. It didn't take long.

"Honey, this guy has never left New Orleans. He even stayed during Katrina. He has an arrest for looting but that was even dismissed when he proved he was simply rescuing his own stuff from a partially flooded building. He's squeaky clean."

"So he couldn't be the murderer in Mississippi," JJ notes. She looks at Morgan. "What are the odds of having two killers with an M.O. like this?"

Morgan shrugs. "Killing with tools maybe it could happen. But killing with the victims own tools and the post-mortem mutilation? Reid could give you an exact number but I can tell you it's slim to none."

"I thought so. What about a family member?"

Morgan nods. "Maybe. I say we bring him in just to question him. If he does know the killer or killers it may rattle him enough that he tells us something."

The two agents head back inside to "request" that Barry Sweeney accompany them to the police station to answer a few questions. It doesn't bode well for them that he readily agrees. If he had anything at all to hide he would have been hesitant or demanded a lawyer.

Still…he's was the closest thing they had to a lead right now. If nothing else, maybe he has seen something that can help them. Right now they are nowhere near a solid profile of their unsub.


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm looking for Agent Prentiss?"

The desk sergeant directs the detective back to the room the BAU is using. He knocks on the door. Rossi gets up to answer it.

"Can I help you?" the agent asks.

"I hope we can help each other. I'm Detective Dave LaRoue from Slidell. I've got a couple murders sitting cold on my desk that I think may relate to the ones y'all are investigating. Any chance I can get y'all to take a look?"

Rossi nods. "No problem." He extends his hand. "Dave Rossi."

LaRoue smiles. "Well, I should remember your name."

Rossi chuckles. "Hopefully." He lets LaRoue into the room. "This is our unit chief, Aaron Hotchner. These are SSA's Emily Prentiss and Dr. Spencer Reid."

The detective nods to each of them. "Good to meet yall. I've got two boxes of evidence in my car." He gives them a small grin. "Didn't want to lug them in here in case y'all told me to take a swim in a gator pond."

Rossi laughs. "I understand. Dr Reid loves carrying things in the heat. He'll be glad to help you bring them in."

Emily and Hotch laugh at the dirty look Reid gives Rossi. But the young genius follows the detective out to his car. Hotch pulls out his phone and calls Garcia.

"Garcia, got a detective from Slidell, LA here with 2 like cases. Any idea why they didn't pop in your search?"

"Well, sir, so many police departments down there are still trying to completely recover from Katrina. Could be they aren't linked up yet or just haven't taken the time to get them into the NCIC database yet. If they had been there, I'd have found them."

Hotch nods. "Damn. Any idea how many towns along the Gulf are in the same boat?"

Garcia sighs. "No, sir. The database can find what's there, not what's missing."

"Good point. Do you have time to call around to the other parish police stations and see if they have like crimes?"

"Can do, sir. Not sure how long it will take."

"Take as much time as you need…but hurry. Thanks, Garcia."

"No problem, sir. Oh, and let Morgan know I've finished the backgrounds on Sweeney's immediate and extended family members. No one red flags. Still working on his school mates."

"Okay. Good work, Garcia."

"Thank you, sir."

Reid and LaRoue walk in with the files. LaRoue pulls out the summary files of the two cases.

"First case was a man found tied with Para cord to his bed. A gopher stake was the murder weapon."

Reid frowns. "What exactly is a gopher stake?"

"Its official name is a Sonic Mole Chaser. It's got a spike you punch down into the ground and then hit a button that sends sonic waves through the ground. It drives moles away from gardens and such. You can place mole traps at the mounds and kill some of the critters as they try to escape the waves." He shows them a picture. "Killer used the traps on the victims fingers. They got 4 fang-like spikes that snap down on the critter when it enters the trap, killing it."

Emily pales. "That's disgusting."

"Yeah. Spike to the heart killed the guy fairly quickly but the murderer went ahead turned the sonic waves on. He'd have been horribly uncomfortable for the 3 minutes it took him to die."

He pulls out the next folder. "This was the second guy found. A trash spike was speared into his throat as he was tied to his bed. As he slowly choked to death the killer spread trash all over him. Once he was dead, he used the spike to actually drive some of the trash into the vic's body."

Emily runs a hand over her face. They now had at least 9 victims of this killer. And they had no idea who they were looking for. She feels her blood pressure start to race in frustration. Hotch is studying her.

"Prentiss," he simply says.

She nods. "Need to step out a second, sir."

He nods as she walks out, heading outside to get some air. Morgan and JJ are leaving the interrogation room and see her go. Seeing the stiff way she's walking they know something is wrong. Morgan looks at JJ.

"I'll tell Hotch you're checking on her," he tells her.

JJ nods and hurries after her wife. She finds her outside on a bench, elbows on her knees, face in her hands.

"Em?" JJ says quietly.

Emily looks up, her face pale. "Hey. How'd the interrogation go?"

JJ sits beside her. "He's clean. But what's with you?"

Emily sighs and tells about the 2 new cases. She shakes her head. "It wasn't the scenes that got to me, Jen. It was the frustration of not even being close to a profile. Who the hell is this guy?"

JJ sighs. "I don't know, honey." She lifts Emily's wrist. Her pulse is accelerated. "Baby, you had a late night and I'm sure you've had a frustrating morning with the tip lines."

Emily thinks about the woman insisting on an exorcism of the tools. "You have _no_ idea."

JJ grins. "Head back to the hotel for the rest of the morning. Get a good lunch. Come back this afternoon if your b.p. is down." She rubs her hand over Rocky. "Do it for our girl."

Emily smiles and places her hand over JJ's. "Our girl…I love the sound of that."

JJ grins. "Me, too." She looks down at Emily's stomach. "Now, Rocky, let your mother get a good nap in, okay? And no weird fishy cravings since you'll be in the hotel room, okay?" JJ looks up at Emily. "She says okay."

Emily laughs. "Sure she does. And then I'll see the seafood selections on the room service menu and she'll change her mind."

JJ grins. "Be safe…just order the comfort special. No need to look at the menu for that. And then our room won't smell like the docks."

Emily nods, smiling. "Deal, Mrs. Prentiss." Emily squeezes her hand. "I love you, Jen."

JJ kisses her temple. "I love you, too. Go on. I'll tell Hotch."

"I need to come in and grab my purse and keys to the Tahoe. Hotch drove this morning."

"Okay."

Twenty five minutes later Emily is dropping the thermostat in the hotel room as low as it will go. JJ will probably hate it later but Emily just can't cool down. Once her lunch arrives she strips down to her bra and panties to eat. Once done she lays down on the cool sheets to rest. She rubs her stomach.

"Rocky, there was a time when I could be sick as a dog and I wouldn't walk away from a case. You have changed me so much. Hopefully all for the better. I love you, sweetheart."

She smiles as she gets a kick as if in response.

"I hope that means 'I love you, too' and not 'Shove off, Mama'," she jokes as she closes her eyes to take a brief nap.

* * *

Back in the conference room, JJ and Reid are hanging up the information on the Slidell cases on their murder boards. Reid smiles at JJ.

"Remember 2 years ago when Emily had the flu, a fever of 101 and the shakes?"

JJ grins. "And she refused to stay in the hotel room or the conference room. Insisted she was just fine."

"Yep. Even after she nearly passed out," he says chuckling. "Did you ever think anything would make her walk away from a case to take a nap?"

JJ shakes her head, laughing. "Nope. And I have to admit, I was pretty scared she'd be just as hard-headed when pregnant. Sometimes it's good to be wrong."

Reid nods as they finish getting things put up. When they step back, they turn to the others.

"These are the ones we know of in chronological order. There is a healthy gap between Hattiesburg and Slidell," he points out. "We'll need to wait for Garcia to finish her search."

LaRoue nods. "You know, that's a lot of small towns a'tween here and there."

Hotch nods. "He's right. Reid, Rossi, get with Garcia and find out what towns you can take off her hands."

JJ is staring at the boards. "Reid, how far is Hattiesburg from Mobile?"

Reid scans a map in his head. "Approximately 2 hours. Why?"

"I need to see a map and a background report," JJ mutters.

She searches through the suspect files and pulls out the one on Chloe Baker. Garcia's trace had put her as raised in Citronelle, AL. JJ pulls out her new iPhone and maps the distance between Citronelle and Mobile.

"52 minutes," she mumbles and writes it down on the print out in her hand. She then maps Citronelle to Hattiesburg. "An hour and 39 minutes. Not too far at all," she observes as she writes down that time.

Hotch moves to her. "What have you got?"

JJ shrugs. "Just a hunch. Maybe nothing." She looks at the guys in the room. "I know you're pretty sure the unsub is a man. But what if you're wrong?" She looks at Hotch. "I know I'm new to profiling but can I have a little leeway to check some stuff out?"

Hotch nods. "JJ, I trust your judgment. And as I told you before, you've been profiling for years. Run with your hunch."

JJ nods. "Thanks, Hotch." She calls Garcia. "Pen, as soon as you get some towns passed off to Rossi and Reid, can you double check for strange, unsolved deaths in Citronelle, Alabama? It's a small town so may need a call. If that's the case, let me know and I'll make it."

"Whatever you say, my profiling queen."

JJ grins. "Better not let Em hear you dub me that."

"She's been Princess since she showed up. She won't care."

JJ laughs. "Right. Thanks, Garcia."

* * *

Emily gets back to the station just before 2. They team and the three detectives pour over case reports and faxes coming in from multiple towns between New Orleans and Hattiesburg, MS. Some they are able to dismiss, some end up in a possible file, others are definitely the work of the unsub.

Emily shakes her head as she tosses her last case on the table. "No way this one is connected. The cops better check with his ex-wife again."

"Why do you say that?" Rossi asks.

"The, uh, 'mutilation' she did was definitely in response to the fact that he beat and raped her on multiple occasions."

Rossi winces. "Ah. Right. She did a Bobbitt* on him."

Emily nods. "Oh, yeah. Big time. Shoved it down his throat when she was done."

Rossi shakes his head. "Sometimes I'm thankful my ex-wives were crazy in a normal way."

The others laugh at the thrice married man. JJ walks into the conference room. She had been using another room so she could follow up on her hunch without disturbing everyone as she paced in anticipation. She looks at Detectives Florence and LaRoue.

"All these towns along here, did they have a lot of construction jobs going on in the wake of Katrina, Ruth and other hurricanes?"

Florence nods. "Hell, it's a booming industry by the end of every hurricane season. Katrina made it worse around here but every year it's pretty bad."

JJ turns to Hotch. "We need to go back farther than a year. Chloe Baker has been doing construction jobs all along the Gulf for 5 years. Five years ago she left her hometown of Citronelle after her boyfriend was found killed by a pair of hedge clippers. Police suspected her but could never pin it on her. And since he was an abusive drunk they didn't really press it anyway."

"Small town cops swept it under the rug as a praiseworthy homicide," Morgan states.

JJ nods. "Yeah. Look, I know it's a thin connection but it just…feels right," JJ implores Hotch.

The unit chief considers what she's said. "You have Garcia running her work history?"

JJ nods. "Yes, sir. But if some jobs were under the table it may be hard to pin her to some of these cities."

Hotch looks at the murder boards, as well as the stack of linked crimes that had yet to be added. He nods.

"Keep running with your theory, JJ. But let's not bring Baker in until we can be sure she was in all these towns."

JJ nods. "Thank you, sir."

"No thanks needed. You did good, Jareau." He looks to Reid and Rossi. "Right now I don't plan to send you all to other states but at least head over to the other Louisianna parishes tomorrow to check out the linked and possibly linked cases. If the crime scenes are still secure check them out."

Reid nods. "Yes, sir. Should we show a picture of Baker around?"

Hotch thinks a moment then shakes his head. "Not yet. Last thing we need is a leak that the killer is a woman. If this doesn't pan out it will be a nightmare for Prentiss to get control of."

"Thank you, sir," Emily says with a grin.

He nods, smiling. "That said…I think JJ may be on the right path. Morgan, JJ, head back to ACE tomorrow to speak with the manager. Get her application if you can so Garcia can check it out. If she worked under the table anywhere she may have still listed it on her previous work history." He looks at LaRoue. "You are welcome to come back and help us tomorrow with chasing down more leads or we can contact you if an arrest seems imminent."

LaRoue nods. "Thank you. I'll talk to the sheriff tonight. If he doesn't mind, I'll stick here to help out. Man or woman, I want that sick fuck off the street." He looks to JJ and Emily. "Uh, excuse my language, ma'ams."

JJ grins. "Southern cops are so cute."

Reid grins. "That explains Will."

Everyone laughs as JJ blushes bright red. The team locks up and heads out for the night, stopping for dinner at a local restaurant. Emily stares at the menu.

"Uh, Jen…can I, um…"

JJ sighs. "Yes, you can have fish." She then points to everyone else. "But _only_ Emily can have fish. Got it?"

"So, JJ, does this mean I have to marry you if I want to get the seafood platter, too?" Morgan teases.

JJ just glares at Morgan. "Of course not, Derek. You just need to get pregnant."

Everyone laughs as Emily happily orders the broiled seafood platter.

* * *

***refers to Lorena Bobbitt, who cut off her husband's penis. Law enforcement officers, especially in the Northern Virginia area now call similar crimes a Bobbitt. Twisted, I know, but such is life. :o)**


	11. Chapter 11

At the hotel that night, after talking with Henry, JJ pulls her wife close. "You feeling okay?"

Emily nods. "Yep. Rocky got her fish and I got a nap today. We're all good."

"Any chance I can raise the temperature of the room above Arctic Freeze?"

Emily laughs. "Sure. I'll let you know if it gets too warm."

"Good."

JJ gives her a gentle kiss. Emily runs her hands up JJ's sides to just under her breasts. JJ moans at the contact. Suddenly Emily's blood pressure is rising again…but in a very good way. She deepens the kiss, sliding her hands around JJ's back to pull her closer. JJ drags her tongue along her wife's lips. Emily moans, her hands sliding down to cup JJ's ass, kneading the muscular globes. JJ's hands had made a similar journey. Finally the kiss ends, both women's eyes smoky with desire.

"Make love to me, Jennifer. Please."

"My pleasure, Emily."

Emily steps back so they can slowly undress each other. As the still red scar from JJ's bullet wound is revealed Emily dips her head to kiss it and gently run her tongue over it. JJ whimpers at the loving caress. As she reveals the shamrock on Emily's breast, she gives it the same attention. Both were signs of survival. Both were reminders how close they had come to losing the other. They celebrate them as symbols of lasting love.

JJ moves her hands to the pants Emily wears. She slides them and the panties over her wife's hips and down. As she stands she smiles.

"Have I mentioned how much I love maternity pants? So fucking easy to get off."

Emily grins. "I remember loving them on you, too."

She quickly divests her wife of her pants and underwear. They stand naked, holding each other, hands caressing torsos as they kiss some more. Finally Emily can barely stand. She steps backwards to the bed and lies down. JJ stares down at her wife a moment.

"You are so beautiful, Emily. You really are glowing."

Emily smiles. "Thank you, Jennifer."

JJ crawls onto the bed, cuddling into Emily's side. She smiles at her wife. "Remember when I could settle between your legs?" she asks, her hand rubbing the pronounced baby bump.

Emily takes that hand and kisses it. "Regrets?" she asks, smiling.

JJ smiles. "Not a one," she says, punctuating her feelings with a deep passionate kiss. Her hand travels up to take Emily's breast in her hand. She smiles. "They are getting bigger."

Emily smiles at her. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah. Trust me I know just how much they used to fill my hands." She takes the hard nipple into her mouth and then draws most of the breast in. Emily hisses at the wondrous sensation. JJ releases the breast and smiles. "And I know how much would fill my mouth."

"I'll never doubt you again," Emily says breathlessly.

"Good girl," JJ whispers as she starts to suck and tease Emily's breast once more.

Emily writhes beneath the active mouth. JJ's hand is just teasing over the other breast, light touches to the hard nipple.

"Ple…ple…more…plea…"

JJ smiles and finally pinches the nipple. Emily arches up into the touch. JJ spends a few minutes working her wife's breasts with mouth and hand, feeling Emily's desire grow. Once she knows she can't tease her any longer she leans up and kisses her once more.

"I think I want dessert now," she whispers.

"Oh, Jen…"

JJ moves down and kisses along Emily's thighs. She draws her tongue along the crease of Emily's hip. The brunette's legs pump up. Her hands tangle into JJ's hair, forcing her head where she needs it to go. JJ obeys the unspoken command. She draws her tongue up Emily's glistening folds.

"Oh, fu…Je…ye…"

JJ nips and sucks those folds, her tongue darting out to tease her wife's entrance. Emily's hands again pull JJ closer, begging for deeper penetration. JJ's tongue plunges in. Emily's hips shoot up.

"Ungh! YES!"

JJ reaches a hand up and plays with one of Emily's breasts as her tongue fucks her wife, drawing her closer and closer ecstasy. As she feels the inner walls grasping for her, she quickly moves up to suck in Emily's clit as she plunges two fingers in deep.

"YES! GOD, YES, JEN!"

Emily's walls immediately clamp down on the fingers as JJ sucks and nips at the swollen bud in her mouth. Her other hand continues to work Emily's breast.

"Mo—more…please…more…" Emily begs.

JJ complies, adding a third finger, pressing hard against Emily's g-spot. She gives the hard nipple a firm twist as she nips once more at the clit.

"YESSSSSSSSS!"

Emily's entire body tenses as she comes. JJ keeps working her, driving her up once more. She adds a fourth finger and is soon rewarded with her wife's second orgasm. She would love to drive her longer but can tell Emily is spent. She slowly climbs up and kisses her wife deeply.

"I love you, Emily. So, so much."

"Love…too…Jen…damn…"

JJ smiles. She loves turning her wife to jelly. But her own need is great. She sits up and straddles Emily's thigh. Emily moans as she feels the wet heat of JJ's desire. JJ starts to slide back and forth on the muscled leg below her. Emily grabs her wife's hips and flexes her muscles in time to JJ's movements.

JJ throws her head back. "Oh, yes, Emily!"

Emily brings a hand down to her thigh, positioning it so JJ can rock over it, essentially working her own clit. JJ moans at the contact. As Emily feels her getting close, she shoves her hand forward, sliding two fingers into her wife as her palm slams against the hard jewel.

"Oh, YES! FUCK ME, EM!"

Using her thigh, Emily complies, driving her hand up into JJ's thrusting center. Finally with a last scream, JJ comes.

"EMILY! YES!"

Her hips pump several times as Emily milks the orgasm for every bit of JJ's essence she can. Finally the blonde throws herself off to the side, gasping for air. Emily smiles at her spent wife. When JJ finally looks to the brunette, Emily brings her hand up and slowly licks JJ's essence from her glistening fingers.

JJ's hips pump once more as just that sight makes her come once more. Emily smiles and rolls to her side.

"I love you, Jennifer Prentiss."

JJ strokes a hand down Emily's cheek. "I love you, Emily Prentiss."

JJ scoots closer and kisses her wife. Emily rolls to her other side, allowing JJ to spoon in behind her. They clasp hands over Rocky.

"I love when you hold me like this, Jen."

JJ kisses her shoulder. "And I love holding you like this. You and Rocky. I love you both so much."

Emily sighs in contentment. She reaches over and turns off the bedside lamp. She snuggles back a little closer to her wife. Soon the both fall into a contented, love-filled sleep.

* * *

Emily shoots up in bed. She is covered with sweat and unable to catch her breath. JJ quickly turns on the light and stares at her terrified wife. Emily is rubbing her stomach.

"Jen, is she okay? Is she okay? Is she—"

"Easy, Emily, she's fine, baby. Rocky is okay."

Emily is trembling. She stands and moves to the mirror so that she can see for herself that her baby is still safe and sound inside her. She leans on the dresser, her legs visibly shaking. JJ moves up behind her.

"Baby, you need to lay back down." She carefully takes her wife's wrist and feels her pulse is racing. "Em, please lay back down before you pass out, honey."

Emily just nods and allows JJ to lead her back to bed. JJ grabs a bottle of water they had put in the ice bucket before bed and hands it to Emily. The brunette's hands are shaking so badly she can't open it. JJ takes it back, opening it and holding it to her wife's lips so she can take a sip. Finally Emily signals she's done. JJ sets the bottle down then goes and gets the blood pressure cuff. Emily doesn't even argue as JJ checks and sees it's just below the trip to the ER level.

"Emily, baby, what happened?"

Emily sighs. "I…I dreamt that she had been…" she shakes her head, unable to finish the thought.

JJ pulls her close. "She's okay, honey. No one has hurt her. No one will. You and I will protect her. I won't let anything happen to either of you. I swear. If I'm not there to protect you both the rest of the team will be."

Emily just nods, letting her wife's love calm her. After a few minutes she takes a shuddering breath. "A figure all in black. Not sure if it was a man or a woman. They…they had a saw and they…God, Jen…"

JJ kisses her wife's temple. She knows it helps Emily to talk the dream out but neither of them really want this one spoken. Not considering the case they are on.

"Em? Wear your clutch piece. Please. I know it makes you a target to wear your sidearm but wear your ankle holster."

Emily manages a smile. "As if I could bend over to get it."

JJ grins. "To protect Rocky you could. I know you could."

Emily nods. "Yeah, I could. I'll wear it, Jen. For Rocky."

JJ checks Emily's bp once more and it is closer to normal. "Honey, if it's still high in the morning—"

"I'll work from here. Promise. Just promise me you'll stay safe. I think you're right about the unsub. And I think she's not the type to surrender easily."

"I agree. I'll be safe. Swear."

Emily once more kisses the bullet wound. "I won't survive if something happens to you, Jennifer."

"You will." She makes Emily look her in the eye. "If something happened you would survive for Rocky and Henry. Promise me that."

Brown eyes stare into blue. "I promise."

"Thank you."

JJ crawls back into bed, once more pulling her wife into a loving, protective embrace. It is a long time before either woman slips back to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the delay in editing and posting, y'all. My nephew had a motorcycle accident on Friday afternoon. He has a long road to recovery with a shattered arm and broken pelvis but he's alive and has no head injury. Please remember to watch for motorcyclists on the road. A woman pulled out in front of him and could have easily killed him. Share the road!  
**

**Thank you to everyone who posted or PM'ed me the kind words. It is really appreciated.**

**-AR**


	12. Chapter 12

The team is back pouring over background reports and crime reports by 8:30 the next morning. Emily's bp was still a bit high so she was working from the hotel, helping JJ to follow up on her hunch. At 10:23 an officer walks into the conference room.

"Uh, Detective Florence?"

"Yes, son?"

"Detective LaMontagne just called. He got called out to a double homicide this morning. He thinks it might be one of yours."

Florence sighs. "Shit."

Hotch looks at his team. "Morgan, JJ go with them." He looks to the detectives. "It can help us to see the scene untouched."

Florence nods. "Whatever it takes to catch this bastard."

As the two detectives and two agents leave, Hotch looks at Reid and Rossi. "Reid, switch to JJ's hunch. Rossi, we'll keep up with the original theory."

Rossi lays down the folder he'd been working on. "In all honesty, Hotch, I think JJ is right. She's got a map of murders leading from here back to Baker's hometown. It all adds up, especially if it started with her abusive late boyfriend."

"Maybe. But what could these men have done to her? She's not killing every man she comes in contact with just certain ones. Until we know what the motivating factor for the murders is I'm not comfortable straying from the idea the unsub is a man. Too many markers say male killer."

Rossi shrugs. "Maybe so. But think about this: the killing blow is clean. It's the post-mortem that gets dirty."

Hotch nods. "I know, I know. You and JJ have pointed that out before. I'm letting JJ run with it but I'm not concentrating all our efforts on that one theory. Better safe than sorry we look at every option until something tells us where to focus."

Rossi sighs. "You're the boss."

Hotch can tell his mentor isn't happy. But Hotch had seen too many cases blown because the wrong suspect was concentrated on. JJ's theory doesn't fit classic profiles. George Foyet hadn't fit classic profiles, either, which is why he's allowing this leeway. But he's not willing to throw away years of BAU research just yet. They are following both possibilities. Hotch was comfortable with his decision. He goes back to reading over a case from Diamondhead, MS.

* * *

At the latest murder scene, the profilers and detectives meet Will outside the house.

"What have we got?" Morgan asks.

"A whole lotta Hell on Earth," Will answers. He takes a deep breath. "Walter and Eunice Henson. Looks like they were both knocked unconscious so the unsub could tie him to the bed."

"Para cord?" Baylor asks.

Will nods. "Yeah. The wife was killed quickly and no signs of torture or anything. The husband…" he shakes his head, trying in vain to get the image out of his head. "The husband was killed with a reciprocating saw. Slashed his throat then…then he was carved up with it. Slashes all over his damn body. Even fucking disemboweled him."

Morgan frowns. "We need to find out if a saw-zall was sold at Ace."

"Don't bother checking." Will hands him an evidence bag with a receipt in it.

Morgan takes a look at it. "Shit." He hands it to JJ. "This had to have been the guy leaving as we walked in yesterday."

JJ shakes her head. "Fuck. This means ACE is the connect. Damn it, Morgan, it had to be her."

"We don't know that for sure yet, Jayje. Let's not get ahead of the evidence trail."

She slowly nods. "Right."

The four investigators head inside. All note the fact that once again nothing appears to have been taken. Even Eunice's purse is sitting untouched on the dresser. Will had been right: the scene was Hell.

Morgan starts to profile the scene. "So, she clubs them to make sure they don't wake. She then ties the man to the bed. Doesn't tie the wife. Why?"

"She's not the focus of the unsub," JJ states. "He is. She just happens to be here. She's killed quickly, no mutilation. Her eyes have even been closed."

"Sign of remorse," Morgan points out as JJ nods.

"Once she's dead, the unsub can focus on him." JJ walks slowly around the bed. Something on the floor catches her eye. She kneels down. "Morgan, there's a smelling salt capsule here. She woke him to kill him."

"So she wakes him, lets him see what she's going to do, kills him and then starts to have fun with the body. What the hell for?" He looks at JJ. "I mean, think about it: I've just killed this guy I have some sort of grudge against. Why do I then stick around and torture a dead body?"

JJ stares at the scene. She puts herself in the mind of the unsub. "Because at this point I have total control. He can't fight me, mock me, hurt me. I can make him horrible and make his family wonder what he had done to deserve such a death. No one does this without a good reason." She looks at Morgan. "She wants to make sure his family knows what a jerk he was that he brought this kind of hatred down upon himself."

Morgan notes the pronoun used but says nothing. The more she talks and the more he sees the more invested in JJ's theory he gets.

Just then Will walks in. "Uh, guys? There's another tool murder."

"Son of a bitch!" Morgan shouts.

"I'll stay here for the crime scene techs. They have just arrived at the other house. Looks like another one dead for a while."

JJ sighs. "This is getting nuts, Morgan. We have a chance to stop this before more deaths occur."

"JJ, I know what you're thinking. We don't have probably cause. Yet. Give Garcia and Emily time to finish the timeline on her."

Will frowns. "You have a suspect?"

"Maybe," JJ hedges. "She doesn't fit a classic profile but damn it, Morgan, this isn't a classic case. It's not a spree, even though it presents as one. These men are doing her wrong in some way and she is after revenge. It seems disorganized until you see just how organized it is. Back me on this, Morgan."

Morgan stares at the determined blonde. "Let's check out the other scene. If it's connected and we find proof of a connection to ACE we'll take her in for questioning."

JJ sighs in relief. "Thank you."

He nods. "No problem."

They call Hotch on the way to the next scene. With what they are finding at the station he is close to committing to JJ's theory, too. As he hangs up the phone, Morgan glances at JJ.

"You know, Rookie Profiler, you end up being right you'll have topped a team with over half a century of combined experience. Not real smart to put us all to shame that way."

JJ blushes at the praise and grins. "Yeah, well, if I'm right I'll treat everyone to a steak dinner at Ruth's Criss."

Morgan laughs. "You're on, Mrs. Prentiss. You're on!"

"But I swear, if anyone orders fish I'll—"

"—pull your/my sidearm," they finish together.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Morgan says with a grin.

The officer on scene gives them the rundown of what to expect. "Woman got home from a cruise she took with some girlfriends. Thought the refrigerator had broken down or something. Then she found her husband in bed. Guy's been stabbed with a bunch of screwdrivers."

"A bunch?" JJ asks.

"Yeah. You'll…you'll see."

He waves his hand towards the door, letting them know they were on their own to look at the scene. The profilers and detectives head inside. They follow the smell to the master bedroom. The man is tied to the bed with Para cord. The largest screwdriver from a 10 piece set by Stanley is embedded in his chest. The rest have been used in horrific ways. The smallest two now stick out of his eyes.

JJ turns her head to gather herself. "Please let this follow the post-mortem pattern," she prays quietly.

They move into the bedroom and study the scene. The man's wallet is on his dresser. His wedding ring and watch are still on him. JJ turns and walks out. She looks through the house until she finds what he had been building. She kneels down beside the memory-box style coffee table. Beside it sits stain and a paintbrush in a bag. She reaches in and pulls out the receipt…from ACE. It looks to be the last thing he had to do. Morgan walks in behind her.

"He didn't use a drill. He wanted it to be completely handmade for his wife," she whispers.

"How do you know it was for her?"

JJ points to the couch. Morgan looks over and sees the wedding photo, pictures of kids and grandkids, as well as little mementos that were to have eventually found their home in this table. She hands Morgan the receipt. He sighs and bags it. JJ stands and pulls off her latex gloves. She makes her way outside and leans against the SUV. She pulls out her phone, flipping through some pictures of Emily and Henry. They help to settle the unease in her body.

"All okay?" Morgan asks as he walks up.

"You know, as media liaison I saw the pictures, sometimes I saw the families after the fact. But I never saw…saw _this_," she gestures to the house as a way to encompass all scenes. "Rossi told me when it starts getting easy to see I'll know it's time to hand in my badge."

Morgan nods. "Yeah, that's true."

"But all of you have been looking at this for years. You have to get somewhat numb to it."

Morgan crosses his arms and stares off into space, thinking. Finally he sighs. "I can only speak for myself, JJ. I haven't become numb to it. And some scenes really still get to me. It's about compartmentalizing those feelings until you can do something to work them out. I beat down walls in my homes. When needed, I buy a new one so I can beat it until it's ready to sell again."

JJ smiles. "Rossi pointed out everyone's ways to cope, too. I guess…I guess I just haven't found that thing to concentrate on instead of the death."

Morgan reaches over and takes her phone. "You sure about that?" He pulls up the photos she had been looking at. He holds it up for her to see. "Seems to me you found the best thing to help remind yourself why we do this. For him and Rocky and all the kids like them."

JJ stares at her son's smiling face for a minute. She slowly looks up into Morgan's eyes. "Thank you," she says, choked up.

He nods. "Any time. Let's go see if we can get Chloe Baker to come in to answer a few questions."

JJ nods and gets in the SUV.

* * *

Chloe stares daggers at the man talking to the store manager. She had tried to help him but he was another one that just assumed a woman wouldn't know a nail gun from a hairdryer.

A few minutes later she gives him a big smile as he puts his new Paslode Cordless Framing Nail Gun on the counter. Fool would have been fine with a cheaper model but the manager had convinced him to go high end. He also has two boxes of the nail strips. She grins. 500 nails per box; 50 nails per strip…yes, that would be enough for her needs and then some.

She rings him up, glad he's an ACE rewards member. She smiles as she hands him his purchases.

"Thank you, Mr. Manning. Hope to see you again soon."

He grunts at her. "Whatever." He walks out mumbling under his breath about women working at hardware stores being part of the downfall of America. She quickly writes down his address before clearing his information from her register.

"Lucky you, Mr. Manning. You won't be around to see America fall, you prejudiced bastard."

Just then the manager walks up. "Chloe, Billy is meeting a friend for lunch at 1. If you want to take lunch now go for it."

Chloe nods. "Sure. Have an errand to run so now's fine. See you at 12:30."

As she heads to the employee break room she sees JJ and Morgan enter the store. She frowns. What the hell could they be doing here? They flag down the manager.

"Can you let us see the application for one of your employees?" Morgan asks.

The managers eyes get wide. "One of _my_employees? Who?"

"Chloe Baker," JJ responds.

"Chloe? Holy shit. Uh, yeah, come with me."

As they head to the office, Chloe grabs all her stuff and leaves. Time to move on…after a visit to the Manning house this evening. She makes her way to her apartment and gets all her things together. Shoving them in the back of her Cherokee she heads out to find a place to hold up until nightfall. She would kill Manning and then get out of town. Maybe it was time to head back to Citronelle and disappear in the middle of nowhere for a while. Yes, maybe it was time to return home.

After one more kill.


	13. Chapter 13

JJ scans Chloe's resume and sees the numerous construction jobs listed. She looks at the manager.

"Why is she working here instead of in construction?"

He shrugs. "Lots of seasonal construction workers down here. She has a lot of experience and several certifications. This means she would have to be paid more. Most likely she came expecting jobs to be easy to find but refused to take a pay cut."

JJ nods. "Oh." She thinks a moment. "You know, as a woman in a profession considered a man's job I get a lot of flack. Do you know if that was a problem for her?"

The manager sighs. "Unfortunately yes. And the truth is she knows more about the tools in this store than the rest of us put together. There's just a lot of men who assume a woman is too dumb to know about tools. The ones that actually listened to her become her regulars."

"And the one's that don't?" JJ presses.

"Well, uh, I don't know."

JJ and Morgan exchange a look. Most likely the worst offenders never come back to the store because they are dead. Morgan looks at his watch. It is 12:45.

"Is she usually late?"

The manager glances at the clock and frowns. "No. Never. She's my most dependable worker."

"What is she driving?"

"Dark blue Cherokee. Couldn't tell you the plate number."

"Our magician won't need it," Morgan says as he pulls out his cell phone. "Garcia, I need you to find Chloe Baker's SUV. It's a dark blue Cherokee."

"I will sure try. What state?"

"No idea."

"Partial tag number?"

"No clue."

There is a pause. "Derek Morgan, you are lucky that I love you."

He chuckles and disconnects. They can only hope the vehicle is registered in her name so a BOLO can be issued.

They take her resume with them and go back to the police station. As they match up her jobs to cases linked to their unsub they see the connections. Hotch stares at the information in front of him. He turns to JJ.

"Damn good job, Jareau."

Emily, who had reported to the station at noon, just smiles at her wife, pride surging through her. JJ smiles and nods.

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, where are we in tracking her vehicle?"

"Garcia is on it but we don't know the state it's registered in or even if it's registered to her. We'll just have to hope it is," Morgan tells him.

Reid looks around the room. "Do we think she's on the run because we know about her?"

JJ shrugs. "I know there was a Cherokee in the parking lot when we pulled in. If it was hers she may have suspected we knew about her and bolted."

Hotch's phone rings. "Hotchner."

"It's Florence. She's gone. Landlord said she carried all her stuff out a little while ago. He's had so many people take off he didn't think two licks about it. He has her deposit and last month's rent so it's no skin off his back, you know?"

Hotch sighs. "I know. Okay so now we're at a standstill until we know where she is and what for sure she's driving. Did the landlord have her license plate info?"

"He did. But since the plates are in the trashcan here it's not going to be much help."

"Son of a bitch," Hotch mutters. He thinks a minute. "Okay, get an all points bulletin out for cops to run the plates of any blue Cherokee they see. If the plates come back to a different vehicle it's probably her."

"Got it. See you in a bit."

Florence has Baylor call in the APB as he makes his way back to the station to meet with the BAU team. Hotch looks at his team.

"Prentiss, get your press contacts notified of a 4 p.m. briefing. I want Baker's face and name on the 5 o'clock news. A description of the vehicle, too."

Emily nods. "Yes, sir." She starts to call her contacts.

JJ suddenly sits up straight in her chair. "Oh, shit. We need to see if the manager can check the recent big purchases at his store."

"Why?" Rossi asks.

"We're assuming she's just on the run. But can we take a chance she's not leaving before she finishes her vendetta or vendetta's?"

Hotch nods. "You and Morgan get back to the store. Anyone she's checked out the last few days or anyone buying power tools while she was working needs to be questioned. Rossi, Reid, go with them. There could be a lot of calls to make."

Those four head out. Hotch sits down in his chair and stares at the board. He had let JJ run with her theory hoping to teach her why they pay attention to textbook profiles. And instead she had figured out who the unsub was and found all the like crimes in small cities not tied into the NCIC database. He runs a hand over his face.

"I think I need a long vacation," he mumbles.

"Sir?" Emily asks, thinking he was addressing her.

He shakes his head. "Nothing." He turns and looks at her. "She's good, Emily. One of the best profilers I've ever worked with and her fresh eyes broke this case."

Emily nods proudly. "I know."

"The thing is…I did to her what these men did to our suspect."

Emily shakes her head. "No, Hotch, you didn't. Not even close. You may not have believed her theory but you let her run with it. You didn't belittle her, you didn't make her seem dumb for going outside the little boxes we draw around the killers we hunt. You trusted her to fly or fall on her own merit. Truth is, she _could_ have been wrong. She still would have learned from the experience. Instead she's right." Emily grins. "And we've all been reminded not to pigeonhole the profile."

Hotch grins. "True. Still think I need a vacation. A real one. Not one when I'm worried if I'm going to be fired or not."

Emily chuckles. "Then take one, Hotch. I'll keep them all in line for you," she winks.

He chuckles. "Thanks." He turns back to the board. "You know…when we do the press conference we need to do it in a way that, if she sees it, could draw her to us."

She sets her pen down. "What are you thinking?"

He smiles at her. "Here's my plan…"

* * *

"Hi, Mr. Manning, my name is Spencer Reid I'm with the FBI. I understand you purchased a nail gun today at ACE Hardware."

"Yeah, so. It's not a real gun so you government stooges shouldn't give a damn."

"Uh, yes, true. Actually, we were wondering if you remember the woman that checked you out?"

"You mean the ERA bitch? Yeah, what about her? She say I did something? The damn bleeders are always accusing guys of shit. I didn't touch her and if she says otherwise she's just another lying, conniving bitch."

Before Reid can say anything more Manning hangs up. Reid stares at his phone a minute then turns to the others. "Guys, this guy bought a cordless nail gun and 500 nails. He also hates women, even referring to Baker as a 'bleeder' and an 'ERA case'."

"Well, speaking as a woman, if I were a homicidal maniac he'd be at the top of my list," JJ volunteers.

The guys laugh. It's decided Morgan and JJ will go see him. Of the other people they had called 2 more had seemed like potential victims. One man was out of town so they had told him to stay out for the next 24 hours unless they contacted him. Rossi and Reid were going to the other potential man to see if he'd agree to protection at least over night. Rossi smiles at Morgan.

"You know, there's a good chance that Manning hates blacks as much as he hates women."

Morgan smiles. "Only if Santa's coming early this year."

The agents laugh and split up to try to keep Baker from claiming one more victim.

* * *

Hotch steps up the podium. "I'm Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner and I will be taking over the media liaison duties for the duration of this investigation. It has become apparent that two women on this team have discounted tried and true avenues of investigation in favor of doing things their own way. We cannot have that sort of dissention during an investigation."

He glances at Emily, who looks PISSED. He turns back to the gathered media.

"Right now I am releasing the name and photo of a person of interest in this case. Chloe Baker is driving a dark blue Cherokee. It is believed she is working with a man that should be considered armed and dangerous. She lures victims using her feminine wiles and then he kills them. The degree of brutality at the scenes could only be accomplished by a man.

"If anyone sees her or her vehicle they are encouraged to contact the police immediately. She is prone to acting out so do not approach her as she could cause harm if she lashes out or if her man is there to protect her. Thank you."

He walks away from the podium without even attempting to answer any questions. Emily follows him out and down to the conference room. Once the door closes she smiles at him.

"I know you were just pretending to be an ass and I still want to smack the crap out of you."

Hotch chuckles. "Why thank you, Agent Prentiss. Nice to know I am capable of angering women."

Emily chuckles. "You're a man, sir. It's in your blood to anger women. Don't sell yourself short."

They laugh and settle down to wait. Rossi and Reid were spending the evening with one couple while Morgan and JJ had managed to convince Mr. Manning to let them stay with him. As they suspected, they couldn't tell who he hated more: JJ or Morgan. But he still didn't deserve to die a horrible death.

Now all they can do is wait.


	14. Chapter 14

Chloe stares at the Manning house. It is 3 a.m. but she is sure she just saw movement in the living room. She changes her vantage point slightly and sees it again. There is definitely someone moving around in there. Perhaps Manning keeps the lights off to save on his electric bill.

She makes her way into the neighbors yard and out to his shed. He is working on an addition to it so she is sure that's where she will find his nail gun. She hopes the idiot remembered to charge the battery.

She crawls into the shed by pulling an AC unit out of the back window. She finds the nail gun and, to her happy surprise, two batteries for it fully charged. She slips them into the backpack she carries. She loads a strip of nails into the gun then puts the rest in her backpack.

She looks over Manning's tool bench until she finds the two tools she needs to disable the safety. Now she would be able to shoot without having to press down on the gun. It is now more a firearm than a tool. She smiles malevolently. It is perfect.

* * *

Staring out the kitchen window, JJ squints. Did she just see movement behind the shed? She moves closer to the window. She can't be sure but she raises her wrist mike.

"Morgan, I think I just saw someone out by the shed."

"Keep your eyes on that area. If she wants to use his tool to kill him that's where she would look for it."

"I know. I…shit, yeah, someone's out there."

"Coming to you."

Morgan makes his way to the kitchen, staying out of the moonlight that filters into the windows. He steps up beside JJ.

"Where am I—never mind."

They both watch as a figure makes their way from the shed to the neighbor's yard. They are confused.

"Maybe we're just witnessing someone robbing Manning," JJ guesses.

"Maybe."

Morgan moves around, trying to get a view of the neighbor's yard. He can't find the figure they had seen. He gets back to the front window and eases up to the curtain, staring out at the street. He lifts his mike.

"I'm not seeing-UNGH!"

His voice cuts off as glass breaks. JJ races to the front room to see Morgan dropping to his knees. "MORGAN!"

"GET DOWN!"

JJ drops to the ground as nails are shot through the glass with enough force to embed in the wall JJ had been in front of.

"Holy SHIT!"

She crawls towards the window and eases up enough to look out. She sees a figure clad in black racing up the street, the bright orange tool in their hands.

"Morgan?" JJ questions.

"I'm…good…go…" he grunts.

JJ nods and races out of the house, her firearm at the ready. She hears the unmistakable sound of a SUV starting around the corner and pushes herself to run faster. As she turns the corner she sees taillights racing down the street.

"SHIT!"

She pulls out her phone. "HOTCH! She was here but got away. Morgan's hurt. Get an ambulance here and tell Reid and Rossi to watch out. Send a patrol car to get Manning into protective custody."

Hotch had heard the anger in JJ's voice. "I'm on it. How bad is Morgan?"

"Don't know. Shit, Hotch, I got him shot again. FUCK ME!"

She hangs up and races back to the house. She sees Manning putting pressure on a wound in Morgan's arm.

"Oh fuck, Morgan, I'm so sorry. Shit."

"JJ, this isn't your fault. Hurts like a motherfucker but it's not your fault. I should have known better than to approach the window when she was armed with that kind of nail gun. It's powerful and the nails are long. Just hurts like hell that she got two into me." He grabs her hand and stares into her eyes. "This is NOT. Your. Fault!"

JJ slowly nods but he still sees the fear and self-recrimination in her eyes. He knows it will be there until Baker is caught and the nails are removed from his arm.

* * *

Hotch looks at Emily. "I'll meet Morgan and JJ at the hospital. Stay here and monitor the police radio. Let me know if they find her."

Emily nods. "Will do. And, Hotch, she won't believe it's not her fault. Not after what happened in that warehouse."

He nods. "I know. Morgan and I will work on her. Promise."

Emily lets out the breath she'd been holding and starts to pace. Somehow Baker had been a step ahead of them.

Out in the parking lot, Hotch is jogging towards his SUV when a nail hits his thigh.

"SHIT!" He grunts as he goes to the ground. He grabs at his gun but a nail hits his hand, the pain paralyzing it temporarily.

Baker slowly walks up to him. "You should have been nicer to the women agents, you bastard."

He grimaces. "And you should have realized you were being set up, you freak," he counters.

Her eyes widen. She fires once more, the nail going into his chest. He drops the rest of the way to the ground…and doesn't move.

She stares at him. It was a set-up. That pregnant bitch was in on it. She looks up at the police precinct.

"She's just as bad as this fuck. I'll teach her a lesson she won't soon forget."

Chloe shifts her backpack so it's in front of her. She tucks the nail gun behind it and heads inside to confront Emily Prentiss.


	15. Chapter 15

Rossi and Reid are pacing in the house they are staking out. Rossi finally stops and looks at Reid.

"Hotch said she went after Manning and shot Morgan instead, right?"

Reid nods. "Yes."

"So why would she come here? She's got to know we'd have this place covered, too."

"True."

"So if you were her, who would you go after next?"

Reid thinks a minute. "Well, if she managed to see the press conference, she could try for Hotch. But at the police precinct? That would be sort of risky."

"Not if she's sure Hotch would do exactly what he's doing."

Reid's eyes widen. "He's going to see Morgan at the hospital."

Rossi nods. "Exactly! You call Prentiss, I'll call the squad car to get up here just in case we're wrong."

Reid rips out his phone. "Emily! Where's Hotch?"

"He's gone to meet—"

"We think Baker will try to ambush him. He's the likely target if she saw the news."

Emily leaps up. "SHIT!"

"We're on our way. Be careful!"

"Right." Emily puts her foot up on the seat and pulls out her clutch piece. "Thank you, Jennifer," she whispers as she chambers a round.

* * *

Chloe steps inside the precinct. The best way to not be noticed is to just act like you belong. She simply starts to walk back towards the desks and offices she can see. As she walks past one detective she sees Emily step out of the conference room.

Emily's eyes widen as Chloe smiles at her. Emily raises her gun.

"CHLOE BAKER! PUT YOUR HANDS UP!"

As people start to react, Chloe grabs the detective nearest her and puts the nail gun to his ear.

"Drop your gun, Bitch, or he's dead."

Emily stares into the scared eyes of Will LaMontagne.

A couple of uniforms pull their guns. Emily raises her hands to them. "NO! If she fires, even reflexively, he's dead. Holster your firearms, officers."

The men exchange looks. Will gets concerned about how long they are taking.

"Do what she says, damn it!" he yells.

The men finally lower their guns, allowing Will to breathe a sigh of relief. He trusts Emily to get him out of this. His eyes telegraph that trust to her. Emily gives him a slight nod.

Emily slowly lowers her own gun. "Chloe, why don't we all step into the conference room here and talk. Okay?"

"I don't need to talk. You sided with that bastard! You let him push you around and make it sound like you are an idiot! Well, I've already taken care of him," she says with an evil grin. "Now it's your turn."

She swings the nail gun towards Emily.

* * *

Rossi and Reid race into the parking lot. As they start towards the building Rossi glances towards Hotch's SUV.

"SHIT! REID!"

They run over to find Hotch unconscious. Seeing the nail in his chest they expect the worst. Rossi puts shaking fingers on his friends' carotid. He breathes a sigh of relief. "He's alive."

Reid is already calling for an ambulance. Rossi flags down two uniforms to stay with Hotch as the agents move towards the building. They enter and see a scene as if from a horror movie unfold before them as Chloe levels her nail gun at Emily and fires.

* * *

JJ holds Morgan's hand the entire way to the hospital. The EMT's had said it was a good thing that he could move his fingers. An x-ray will confirm it but it looks like the nails had missed his muscles and major arteries.

Morgan looks into JJ's eyes. "How the hell can you think this is your fault? Or the shit that went down in the warehouse? JJ, this is just the job. None of this is your fault!"

"Morgan, how many times did you get shot when you were with Emily?"

Morgan laughs. "Jayje, think about what you're asking. Emily and I have gotten into some crazy ass situations together and apart. We always will because it's the _job_. Don't you forget you're the one that solved this case. All the good we do, all the people we save by stopping her are because of you. I'd take a whole strip of nails if it meant stopping her. You hear me?"

JJ sighs. "Yeah…I hear you. I'll let you know when I believe you, though," she says with a small grin.

He smiles and squeezes her hand. "Watch it, Rookie."

She just chuckles. Her phone rings and she glances at the caller ID.

"Hey, Rossi. Did you catch her?" JJ's face pales. "Oh…oh, my God…is she…oh, God, Rossi…are they…are…where are…are…"

Morgan can see JJ is slipping into shock. He grabs her phone from her. "Rossi? What's going on, man?"

Morgan also pales as Rossi tells him what has happened at the police station. "Oh, my God…"


	16. Chapter 16

As Chloe swings the gun towards Emily, Will leaps up and smacks into her. She shoots off two nails before he starts to struggle with her.

Pain rips through Emily's arm as one nail hits her left bicep. The other nail whizzes by her head close enough she's sure it took off a lock of hair. Since she had only lowered her gun she brings it up quickly and levels it at Will and Chloe. Wishing her aim was as good as her wife's she knows she can only trust her aim will be enough if she gets a clear shot.

"WILL! GET AWAY!" she hollers.

Will shoves Chloe away. The irate woman fires at him as Emily fires three times. Chloe staggers back and falls, her hand firing off several more nails that ricochet off the floor harmlessly.

Will stumbles to her and kicks the nail gun away. Several officers race forward to cover him as he checks her pulse.

"Clear."

He stands and spins, seeing Rossi help Emily into a chair. He starts towards her but falls to his knees in pain.

"EMILY!"

"I'm…fine…fuck…hurts…but fine. You?"

"I'm…mostly…okay. Thanks…to…you."

Emily forces a smile to her face. "You…made her…miss…thanks…"

He smiles as two officers start to put pressure on the wounds in his shoulder and chest. "Henry needs…Mama and…little…sister."

Emily just smiles and nods. Reid walks up. "I called JJ. She'll be waiting at the ER for you two."

Emily just nods. Damn her arm fucking hurt.

* * *

JJ is pacing in the ER when Hotch is rushed in. She stares at him and grabs one of the nurses.

"That's my boss. I need to know how he is as soon as you know."

The woman just nods and races on. Morgan is getting the two nails removed here in the ER since nothing major was hit. From what she had seen, Hotch will probably be going up to surgery to get his nails extracted.

It is ten excruciatingly long minutes later that another ambulance pulls up with Emily inside. JJ runs to meet the gurney.

"I'm…'kay…Jen."

"Let me be the judge of that, Prentiss," JJ growls.

As they wheel Emily into a treatment room a nurse stops JJ. "I'm sorry, ma'am, you can't go in there."

"But that's my wife and child in there!" JJ argues.

"Don't care. There is not enough room for you and us. Let us do our job, Agent. I swear I will come get you as soon as you can see her."

"Okay. No drugs! She's 22 weeks pregnant!"

"We know. Locals only. I promise. Now please, let us do our job."

JJ reluctantly steps back and into the arms of Reid. She turns in his arms and buries her face in his chest. He holds her and pats her back consolingly.

"She'll be okay, Jayje. Will stopped Chloe from getting a good shot off."

JJ slowly looks up. "W—Will?"

Reid smiles and nods. "Yeah, Will."

JJ just turns back into Reid's chest. Will had saved Emily and Rocky. Suddenly JJ knows she won't be dwelling on the custody crap any more. She has her wife and daughter alive and mostly okay because of him. Henry was still in her primary care because he agreed to that set up. It was definitely time to move forward.

Just as she comes to this conclusion, she hears his voice.

"JJ?"

She turns and smiles at him as he is wheeled in on his own gurney. "Thank you, Will." She grabs his hand. "Thank you so much."

He just nods and squeezes her hand. "Couldn't let Henry lose his Mama and little sister."

JJ just nods not letting go of his hand until he gets to his own treatment room. Rossi and Reid had already gone to see Morgan. JJ paces until a nurse finally tells her she can see her wife. As JJ walks into the cubicle where Emily lies, she just stares at her wife. Emily rolls her head towards the doorway.

"I'm okay, Jennifer," she says weakly.

JJ walks over and takes her right hand. She scans the blood pressure read outs. Forcing a smile to her face she looks at her wife. "I guess I can forgive you for your bp being a bit high."

Emily grins. "Sorry. I swear I didn't mean to be in the middle of everything." She lifts JJ's hand and kisses it. "Jen, I wouldn't have been armed if you hadn't insisted. My clutch would have been in my bag, not on my ankle. Maybe I'd have thought to grab it, maybe not. Being on me I thought to pull it. Things would have been a lot different if you hadn't been looking out for me."

JJ leans down and gives her a kiss. "I'll always be looking out for you. It's my job and it's a job I love."

"I love you, Jen. Sorry you got scared."

"It's okay. You'll be fine in a few days. Though I warn you, it really sucks to be in a sling when all you want is a Henry Hug."

Emily chuckles. "I bet." She gets serious. "Are Morgan and Will okay?"

JJ nods. "They'll be fine. In fact Morgan's probably been released already. Will should be released soon. But, Em, Hotch was ambushed by Baker in the parking lot. He's in surgery."

"How…how bad?"

"Worst is a nail in his chest. Not sure how close it is to his heart but it didn't look good when they wheeled him past me."

"Shit…we need to get up there for him."

JJ strokes a hand through Emily's hair. "No, baby. You need to stay here until the doctors say you can go. I'll be right here with you and Reid will come down as soon as anything is known. Promise."

Emily sighs. "I should have gone with him."

"No! You know as well as I do that she would have just shot you both." She runs a hand over Rocky. "All _three_ of you."

Emily's eyes tear up. "She was going to, Jen. Oh, God, she was going to shoot our girl."

Finally the fear catches up to her and Emily breaks down. JJ just holds her, whispering words of comfort and love to her wife. There is nothing to do but wait and hope.

* * *

Up in the waiting room, Rossi stands when he sees Helen Wainwright walking towards them, a smile on her face. They had been working on Hotch for 2 hours.

"Hotch is going to be fine," she tells them to a round of relief filled sighs. "The nail in his chest was right beside his heart. It took an incredibly skilled trauma surgeon to get it out without doing any damage to his organ." She grins. "Good thing I was on duty tonight."

Rossi chuckles. "Damn right it was." He takes her hands. "Do…do you know about Will?"

She nods. "Yes, thank you. One of the nurses gave me updates. By now he's begging to be released. I'm sure Emily is doing the same thing."

Reid grins. "That's a given."

Morgan looks at Helen. "When can we see Hotch?"

"He's in post-op right now. If all goes well, he should be able to see visitors in an hour or so. I'll have a nurse come get you as soon as he's in his room. Now, if you don't have any more questions, I need to see to a certain New Orleans detective."

Morgan grins. "Thanks, Helen."

She nods and heads down to the ER to check on her boyfriend. She is not surprised to find he has two visitors.

"Emily, lovely sling. Really goes with your outfit," she teases.

Emily looks at the pea green sling against her purple blouse. "Oh, yeah. This is the next big color combo making it to runways in Milan."

Helen pats her good shoulder. "Glad you're okay." She turns to Will. "And before you say you're fine, I know you're basically okay. But are you hurting, my hero?"

Will blushes. "Nah, the locals are doing their job. Ask me in a couple of hours when they wear off."

She walks over and gives him a kiss, stroking his cheek. "I expect a full run down of what happened when you're up for it."

He nods. "You'll get it. Promise."

JJ smiles at them. "Well, we're going to head up and check on Hotch; give you two some privacy."

Helen smiles at her. "Hotch will be fine. The nail by his heart was tricky but I've handled worse. Should be getting his own room soon."

JJ's eyes had widened. "You took care of Hotch?" She shakes her head. "My ex saves my wife and his gal saves my boss." She chuckles and intones like an announcer, "Next, on Jerry Springer."

The other three laugh, knowing she's not far from being right.

JJ takes Emily's hand and they head upstairs to check on Hotch. JJ glances back once and sees Helen pull Will close. She sees both sigh with relief and knows Will has truly found his soul mate. She is very happy for them both.


	17. Chapter 17

Hotch slowly opens his eyes. He frowns. "Shit…I'm in Hell," he mutters.

Rossi leans towards him. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

"No. But Heaven wouldn't have such ugly attendants," he says with a small grin.

The rest of the team laughs as Rossi glares at his protégé turned boss. "Funny, Hotchner. Not real smart to pick on me when you can't defend yourself."

"Don't worry, Hotch, we've got your back," Reid states.

Rossi looks at him. "Et tu, Reid?"

Reid shrugs. "He okays our paychecks and expense reports."

Everyone laughs, even Rossi. It was hard to beat that logic. Emily steps up to Hotch's bedside.

"Sorry I wasn't out there with you, Hotch."

"Glad you weren't." He takes in the sling. "Though it doesn't look like you got away unscathed."

She shrugs and says in her best British accent. "Just a flesh wound."

He grins. "Okay, Black Knight."

Everyone chuckles at the Monty Python reference. He stretches his neck.

"How soon can I get out of here?"

"You're here at least the rest of the night. Why? Got a hot date?" Morgan teases.

Hotch grins. "Nope. I think it's time I plan a vacation. A real vacation. Maybe take Jack to Disney World."

Morgan smiles. "He'd love that. Bet I know someone that can get you VIP passes," he says with a stage nod towards Emily.

Emily grins and nods. "I'll drop Mom's name and see what happens." They all look at her in surprise. "What? It's not like we own the place…yet," she adds with a wink.

JJ wraps her arm around Emily's waist. "I'll order the jet for tomorrow morning. It's already morning here now and we'll have reports to file. But right now, I'm taking my wife back to the hotel. She and Rocky need to get some rest." She looks at Morgan. "So do you, mister."

Reid grins. "And the team Mom is back, guys."

"Watch it, nerd boy," she says with wink.

Rossi decides to stay with Hotch. The rest of the team heads back to the hotel. Once in their hotel room, JJ pulls Emily close, holding her like she'll never let her go.

"God, Em…I…I…"

"We're okay, Jen," Emily whispers. "I promise."

JJ leans back and looks into her eyes. "You weren't in the field and you were still attacked. God, Em, how the hell am I going to let you out of my sight? How can I…I just stand by as you join us on cases?"

Emily strokes a hand down her cheek. "Honestly? I don't know. I was terrified, Jen. She had Will, she had me in her sights, it was all so…so fucked. But me staying behind when you all are on cases isn't the answer. I _know_my blood pressure will skyrocket if I don't absolutely know you're okay at the end of the day. And, let's face it, I proposed to you in the aftermath of being held hostage at the BAU. Short of storing me in Ft. Knox until Rocky is born there's no way to make sure I am safe 24/7."

JJ stares into Emily's eyes. After a moment, she tilts her head. "Does you Mom know anyone at Ft. Knox?"

Emily laughs as JJ grins. The brunette pulls her wife close. "I love you, Jennifer Prentiss."

"I love you, too, baby. Both of you." She sighs. "We'll discuss Ft. Knox later. Right now I just want to get you out of your bloody clothes and what's left of your blouse and into bed."

"Shower first? I'll need help," Emily says, wiggling her eyebrows.

JJ chuckles. "How can I pass up a chance to do a good deed?"

The women head into the bathroom, mostly to assure each other that they are really okay. And partly to have a little fun!

* * *

On Thursday afternoon, JJ opens the door to their house. She smiles as she hears Henry laughing.

"God, I love that noise," she whispers.

Francesca pokes her head out of the kids' playroom. "Henry! I think I see Mommy!"

"MOMMY!"

JJ hears the thundering footfalls of a toddler running. She grins and kneels down as Henry races down the hall and into her arms.

"Ooo! A big Henry Hug! Just what Mommy needs!"

"MOMMY! LOVE!" he kisses her cheek.

She peppers his neck with kisses, loving as he giggles and wiggles in her arms. He then looks beyond her.

"MAMA!"

Emily kneels behind JJ. "Hey, Champ."

He leans back in JJ's arms and studies Emily's arm, which is still in a sling. He looks at her questioningly. "Boo?"

Emily nods. "Yep, I have a boo-boo."

He pulls out of JJ's arms and walks over to his Mama. He leans down and kisses the sling. "Boo," he states as he nods.

Emily smiles. "All better, Champ. All better." She pulls him into a one-armed hug. As she lets him go his eyes get wide.

"DADDY!"

Emily smiles and looks over her shoulder. JJ had gotten permission for Will to fly back east with them on the BAU jet. Helen would be flying out tomorrow so she could help him with the flight back since he, too, is in a sling. He kneels and pulls Henry into a hug.

"Hey, Little Man."

Henry kisses the sling. "Boo, Daddy. Boo."

Will smiles and kisses his son. "All better, Henry. All better."

As he hugs his boy close he meets JJ's eyes. She smiles and nods. Yep, things are definitely better now.

* * *

**A/N: Special thanks to my wife, the ACE Hardware Diva who told me all about ways to kill with various tools. Her advice and input was invaluable during this story. Not that she's tried any of these things. I don't think. Hmm…this is scarier than my surfer friend inspiring "Sacrifice"…maybe Emily and JJ both should cuddle with me to protect me! :o)**


End file.
